John TenBrook Rambo

John TenBrook Rambo died Feb. 8. He was 87.

Rambo was born in Port Angeles, Washington on Sept. 26, 1936 to William Huber Rambo and Nell Anne Rambo (nee TenBrook). He attended Central Catholic High School in Portland, Oregon. Later finishing high school in 1954 at Admiral Farragut Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida. He graduated from the University of Portland, Oregon, in 1959 with a bachelor of arts degree in economics and again in 1963 with a bachelor of science in physics. He began his career in nuclear testing in 1963 at the Nevada test site outside of Las Vegas. In 1968, he transferred to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where he was a geophysicist as part of a team responsible for simulating and studying underground nuclear “shots” and recommending containment of nuclear weapons blasts to the US Departments of Energy and Defense. Alongside other containment scientists, he is featured in the book about his life’s work, "Caging the Dragon". He is the author and co-author of many scientific papers. He formally retired in 1994 but continued as a consultant and archivist until 2021.

He is survived by his former wife and mother of his children, Winifred Rambo of California, all his children, Catherine Rambo (Kurt Deustcher) of Oregon, Nathaniel McKenna of California, Susan Rambo (Raymond Howard) of California, Christopher Rambo of California, Sarah Rambo (Andrew Mieczkowski) of Massachusetts, granddaughter Viola Drazga of Washington, sister Joan Heineman of Washington, niece Katherine Koberg (Chris Rideout) of Washington, extended family, many good friends and his beloved cat, Laney.

Memorial donations may be sent to the Atomic Testing Museum, the REACH Museum, the Eastbay Astronomical Society or the charity of your choice. Services will be held at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Livermore. Visitation will be held March 7 from 4 to 7:00 p.m., with mass on March 8 at 12 p.m., followed by burial at St. Michael’s Cemetery at 1:30 p.m. Memories can be shared at Legacy.com.