John ‘Jack’ Fargo Honey

Elia Powers

When it came to family life, Jack Honey kept to himself, though his

children certainly knew how to get him to come out of his shell.

“We’d sit around the piano, pound drinks and sing at the top of

our lungs,” said Delaine McNamara, Honey’s daughter. “Pretty soon,

he’d be singing old Army tunes.”

McNamara said she had limited communication with her father, but

one conversation stands out in her mind. It was more than 10 years

ago, and she was going through a divorce.

“He said, “Come out with me and we’ll talk,’” McNamara said. “He

invited me into his head, and inside was an entire universe I had

never seen.

“From then on, I was jealous of anyone who had a relationship with

him, because I knew what was possible.”

A 35-year Newport Beach resident, Honey died Feb. 10. He was 83.

Born in Portland, Ore., Honey attended nearby Reed College and

served in the Army in World War II. When his duty ended, he went to

Stanford University to complete his master’s degree and to do

electronics communication research -- a topic that would interest him

throughout his life.

Honey began accepting assignments from the United States

government, traveling throughout Europe to improve communication

devices for various government agencies.

Rick Honey, Jack’s son, said his father told the family little

about his work.

“It was all too secret,” he said. “At one point, they flew him to

Vietnam because they were having problems with their communication

systems. He came to be known in certain circles in Washington, D.C.”

Honey helped develop aerospace communication devices and played a

key role in the development of sideband communications, Rick Honey

said.

The family moved to Southern California in the late 1950s, and

Honey developed communication devices for companies throughout the

region.

In 1969, Honey started his own company, Newport Marine Technology,

which later became Marine Technology Inc. The company, which ceased

operations last year, manufactured electrical interference filters.

If an electrical problem on a vessel interfered with a communication

device, his company would create a filter that would cure the

problem, Rick Honey said.

He joined his father at the company as the chief financial

operator in 1984 after finishing a Navy stint. Rick Honey said those

years were some of the happiest of his life.

“He would bend over backward for me at work, even if I made a

mistake,” Honey said. “We got to know each other man-to-man, and that

was a rewarding experience.”

Jack Honey had three wives, and he outlived two of them.

Even during his marriages, the majority of his time was spent at

work or on the water. He was heavily involved in the boating

industry, serving with the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary and as

a commander of the Balboa Power Squadron. He was the licensed captain

of a 50-ton ocean operator and an avid promoter of cruiser log

racing.

Honey’s children remember him as a man passionate about his

boating -- and his jokes.

“He had a sense of humor to die for when he let it out,” McNamara

said. “He just kept things business-like most of the time.”