{"id":27723,"date":"2024-01-30T00:55:06","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T00:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=27723"},"modified":"2024-01-30T00:55:07","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T00:55:07","slug":"elton-jay-retired-mississippi-state-aeronautics-director-passes-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/mississippi\/elton-jay-retired-mississippi-state-aeronautics-director-passes-away\/%20","title":{"rendered":"Elton Jay, Retired Mississippi State Aeronautics Director Passes Away"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Elton Edward Jay, Jr., a former engineer with the FAA and\nretired state aeronautics director for the Mississippi Department of\nTransportation passed away on January 26, 2024.&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Elton-Jay.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-27725\" width=\"125\" height=\"156\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Elton-Jay.jpg 410w, https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Elton-Jay-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 125px) 100vw, 125px\" \/><figcaption><em>Elton Jay, Jr.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Elton graduated from Batesville High School and from\nMississippi State University with a degree in Civil Engineering.&nbsp; He was a Professional Engineer and began his\ncareer working with the Mississippi State Highway Department under the\nCooperative Program in 1956. After graduation, he worked with the MSHD in\nBatesville, the USDA Soil Conservation Service in Missouri and the Army Corps\nof Engineers in Memphis before beginning his career with the Federal Aviation\nAdministration there in 1970. Moving to Brandon in 1974, he continued with the\nFAA before retiring in December 1996 as Principal Engineer in the Jackson, MS\nAirports District Office. Elton was then employed by the Mississippi Department\nof Transportation as the State Aeronautics Director for 10 years before\nretiring in June 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tommy-booth-and-elton-Jay.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-27724\" width=\"206\" height=\"224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tommy-booth-and-elton-Jay.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tommy-booth-and-elton-Jay-276x300.jpg 276w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 206px) 100vw, 206px\" \/><figcaption><em> Elton Jay, left and Tommy Booth.<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cElton was a friend to so many people who knew him,\u201d said\nTommy Booth, who retired as the Mississippi Aeronautics Director in 2021. \u201cI\nwas blessed to have him as a boss and a mentor.&nbsp;\nAirports in Mississippi have thrived because of his guidance and\nleadership throughout his career. He will be missed greatly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Upon his retirement, the FAA Southern Region presented him\nits highest honor, The Kitty Hawk Award, recognizing him for the contributions\nin providing leadership in planning and developing safe and efficient airports\nin Mississippi while serving as the Aeronautics Director. He was an active\nmember of the National Association of State Aviation Officials and served as a\nDirector for the FAA Southern Region. Also, a member of the Mississippi\nAirport\u2019s Association, he was appointed a lifetime member of the Board of\nDirectors upon retirement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He served in the Mississippi Army National Guard for 36\nyears and received numerous awards and citations.&nbsp;&nbsp; After serving in various command and staff\nassignments in the 108th Armored Cavalry Squadron, State Inspector General and\nCoordinator of the State Marksmanship program, he ended his career as a Colonel\nand Base Commander at the Camp McCain Training Site. Upon his retirement, he\nwas promoted to Brigadier General.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elton Edward Jay, Jr., a former engineer with the FAA and retired state aeronautics director for the Mississippi Department of Transportation passed away on January 26, 2024.&nbsp; Elton graduated from Batesville High School and from Mississippi State University with a degree in Civil Engineering.&nbsp; He was a Professional Engineer and began his career working with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mississippi"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27723"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27726,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27723\/revisions\/27726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}