Gino and I were among seven in our graduating class – the first – to join Aerojet in Sacramento. Your (excellent) article asks why the plant was located there and I can tell you. The company was actually founded in Azusa, outside of LA, but needed a place to conduct large scale rocket test firings. The 40,000 acres they purchased east of Sacramento provided tailings piles from gold dredging that offered sound buffers and the separation needed for these facilities. I remember the Zero Defects campaign, including a defective Zero Defects button that someone had.

I did not work with Gino but we kept in touch and I enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Zepponi family, including those from Sonoma who brought their wine. I left Aerojet in 1965 to pursue my aerospace career with GE in Philadelphia.

In 1985 my wife and I were planning a trip to the wine country and I called the ZD winery to see about visiting with Gino. That was when I learned about his fatal accident. I later bought a bottle of 1979 ZD Merlot with his signature on the label in his memory, never intending to open it, and I haven’t until this day.

I exchanged e-mails with one of their sons about twenty years ago and my wife has visited the winery. The bottles she brought back were shared with friends along with the above reminiscences of Gino.