J. Jeffrey Devine, retired spacecraft operations engineer; Lt. Col. Adam L. Musoff, a retired U.S. Marine and a former dedicated fifth grade teacher; and Jessica Uveges Lonigro were named to the Old Bridge High School Wall of Fame this year. Pictured from left are: Devine, Musoff and Damien Lonigro, husband of the late Jessica Uveges Lonigro. OLD BRIDGE — A retired spacecraft operations engineer, a retired United States Marine and a former fifth-grade teacher were named to the Old Bridge High School Wall of Fame this year.
The three new members are J. Jeffrey Devine, class of 1974 of Madison Township High School; Lt. Col. Adam L. Musoff, class of 1990 of Cedar Ridge High School; and Jessica Uveges Lonigro, class of 1999 at Old Bridge High School.
Devine, a spacecraft operations engineer and a U. S. Air Force officer and later a civilian contractor with Honeywell, is a 1983 graduate of Rutgers University. He earned an MBA from Golden Gate University in 1986.
In his acceptance speech, Devine said back in 1974, after graduating from Madison Township High School, he “knocked around” Old Bridge for five years with no thought of the future until a dream was born.
He said the dream literally came to him “like a flash out of the blue” that would change his life forever.
“My inspiration took the form of a U.S. Navy Blue Angels flight demonstration that left me in such awe that I resolved right there to become a fighter pilot,” he said. “So, I turned my back on my career at the A&P [supermarket], enrolled as a full-time college student and joined the [Air Force ROTC] where I was selected as a pilot candidate from a very competitive list of applicants.”
Devine said upon graduation in 1983, he received his flight training assignment and prepared to start living his dream.
“The dream ended abruptly a couple of weeks later when I failed the flight physical,” he said. “This was a big problem for me as I had been so totally focused on my dream that I had no idea what I was going to do otherwise.”
Devine said luckily the U.S. Air Force had a” plan B” for him.
“Rather than flying aircraft, they offered to train me how to fly satellites, something that I had never heard of before,” he said.
Devine said the plan led him on a road to a very fulfilling career that continues on.
His career path included planning, execution, and analysis functions encompassing the mission life cycle from spacecraft design, construction, and launch through on-orbit operations and final decommissioning.
Devine has published and presented numerous technical papers to international audiences on spacecraft operations.
“There is an adrenaline rush when you stand up in front of a large group of NASA astronauts and engineers or Nobel Prize- caliber scientists and realize they are interested in what you have to say,” he said.
Devine also supported the development of the Old Bridge High School Satellite Program during the mid-1990’s.
Musoff, who graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy in 1994, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in political science.
He dedicated 21 years of service in the Marine Corps as commanding officer of Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron Two, deploying the squadron’s marines, sailors, and jets to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Musoff amassed more than 2,500 flight hours in the EZ-6B Prowler as a naval flight officer. He also was involved with operational tours, deploying to the western Pacific as well as to Europe, the Middle East and Asia in support of Operation Allied Force for Kosovo/Serbia, Operations Northern/Southern Watch for the Iraqi No-Fly Zones and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
He earned a Master of Science degree in National Security Resource Strategy from the Dwight D. Eisenhower School, National Defense University in 2014.
Musoff is currently a peacekeeping affairs officer in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations at the United Nations in New York City.
Lonigro, who passed away in December 2014, was a dedicated fifth-grade teacher at the Walter M. Schirra Elementary School in Old Bridge. She was the cheerleading coach at Jonas Salk Middle School and an adviser to the student council, young astronaut, relay for life and sunshine committees. She also was a member of the Character Education Committee.
While a student at Old Bridge High School, Lonigro was captain of the Varsity Cheerleading squad. Since 2005, she organized and raised more than $15,000 with “Team Jessica” for the Alliance for Lupus Research.
The Wall of Fame was established so that newly inducted members would serve as an inspiration and a source of pride for the students of Old Bridge High School.