Don Michael “Mike” McAnulty, of Oak Ridge, passed away on Thursday, April 24, 2019. He was born on October 13, 1948 and was raised in Raeford, NC. He was the son of Martha Joy (Tiny) and John Howard (Mac) McAnulty. He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Patrick Looper McAnulty and his sister Nycee Stancil. He graduated from Hoke County High School, Class of 1966, and served 7 years in the U. S. Navy from 1969 to 1976. After he was discharged, Mike received his undergraduate and doctorate degrees in Industrial Organizational Psychology from Old Dominion University. He had a very successful career both in private industry and for the Federal Government while performing human factors research in aircrew performance, training, and communications; conducting human-in-the-loop simulations; developing guidelines for long range navigation and global positioning systems and other navigational aids; assessing air transportation system improvements in various air traffic domains; evaluating air traffic controller workload, performance, and displays; and designing multiple highly-complex air transportation and air traffic control systems and workspace. He is survived by his loving and devoted wife, Deborah, of 21 years, his adopted children, and surrogate daughter Michelle Cunningham Huff, her husband Jake, and sons Michael and Sam; sister-in-law Kathleen Gonsar and friend Joe Rocuski; cousins Debra Forrester and husband Larry, their daughters Meg Granillo, husband Eric and sons Tyler and Jack, and Sarah Forrester and her daughters Payton and Piper; cousin John Gordon and wife Beverly. He is also survived by several nieces, nephews and other cousins. He was also especially close to neighbors Fredrik, Bella and Oliver Jansson; and Brian, Whitney, Caroline, and Mary Kubert. He and Deborah loved to travel, play golf, go to the gym, hike, and bike ride. He also loved to play tennis and fly, achieving his single engine pilot’s license in 1988. Mike made many friends and retained those friendships throughout his life, especially his classmates from the Class of 1966. The family would like to send a special thank you to Dr. Peter Ennever and his staff at High Point Cancer Center, all the staff at Wesley Long and Moses Cone Hospitals, and the Hospice and Palliative Care of Greensboro who took exceptional care of him. Mike wished to be cremated. A visitation will be held on Saturday, May 4, 2019 beginning at 11:00 a.m. with a memorial service beginning at 12:00 noon at Hayworth-Miller Funeral Home & Crematory, 141 Smith-Edwards Road, Kernersville, NC 27284. He will be interred at a later date at the VA Cemetery in Salisbury, NC. In lieu of flowers, please send a donation to the charity of your choice.
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Don Michael Mike McAnulty October 13 1948 April 24 2019 (age 70).
Death notice for the town of: Advance, state: North Carolina