In Memory of John Dunlop McMillan: 1945 - 2007

It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our friend, John McMillan. John passed away suddenly at his home in Humble, Texas on Sunday, September 9, 2007. He was born in Ayr, Scotland in 1945 and immigrated to America in 1981. As a dedicated member of the Atascocita United Methodist Church, he was actively involved with his local community and supported many charitable organizations. He was predeceased by his beloved wife Kathy in 2005. He leaves behind his mother Edith, his two sons Kyle and Sean, and his brother Tom.

John was a physicist and a pioneer of non-destructive testing in Scotland, also working, and developing this area in America. After moving to Texas from California he built his own inspection company, Mechanical Integrity.

As many of us in the refining and petrochemical equipment reliability business know, he was extremely active in developing and implementing advanced ultrasonic technologies. He was an innovative leader in our industry and had an impressive list of patents: “An Ultrasonic Method and Apparatus for Determining the Depth of a Crack in Solid Material” No. 4522064 U.K.; “An Ultrasonic Method and Apparatus for Determining the Depth of a Crack in Solid Material” No. 4522064 U.K.; “Improvements in and Relating to the Determining of Ultrasonic Probe Characteristics” No. 1566429 U.K.; “Ultrasonic Flexible Track Scanner No. 1 - 579611 U.K.; "NDT Apparatus Utilizing Eddy Currents Having an Improved Probe for Use in Holes" No. 83302709.7 U.S.A. and Germany. John wrote and presented various technical papers and was an active contributor and participant in organization meetings such as the American Petroleum Institute, NACE and ASNT, and had recently started attending HOIST meetings as the Mechanical Integrity representative.

I had the pleasure of working with John at CTI in the Early 1990s, where I really got to know him. After that, our paths often crossed at API, NACE and ASNT events and client sites. John was a gentleman with a great sense of humor. He was imaginative and innovative. He will be greatly missed.