Mickey Gene Rowe 85 of Hampton went peacefully to heaven on June 28, 2020. He was born at home on January 30, 1935 in Louisville, Mississippi to Mable Dean McCool and Jesse D. Rowe. Mickey grew up in Mississippi, played sports, was high school Valedictorian and was voted most likely to succeed. He joined the US Marine Corps in 1953 and served for 4 years. While stationed at Opalocka, FL, he met the love of his life, Betty Atkins, at a young adult church activity. They married December 22, 1956.

His work career began at age 10 as a paperboy. Mickey then worked in the lab at the papermill and in his uncle's gas station while attending Louisiana Tech where he graduated as a mathematician. He worked at NASA from 1961 to 1994 where he had the honor of being part of history. He was in charge of the STAR program, NASA's first "super computer", the cray computer. After retiring from NASA, Mickey continued to enjoy working jobs he described as "fun". He delivered flowers for Jeff's Flowers, worked at MCI, the US Census Bureau, and the HIS department at Sentara Careplex.

His loves in life were God, his wife and family, his church, and his friends. He enjoyed golf, running (he ran the Marine Corp Marathon four times) and entertaining friends and family at home.

Soon after he retired from Sentara, Mickey had a terrible fall. He fractured his C-1 spine. He fought like a Marine for 3 ½ years until he was called home by the Lord.

Mickey leaves to cherish his memory, wife, Betty L. Atkins Rowe; daughter, Betty Jean Burchett and husband Chuck and their children Seth (Tabitha), Christian and great-grandchildren, Braydan and Arionna; son, Michael A Rowe and wife Laurie and their children, Andrew, Tyler, Alex (Madison), and Jillian; Robert E. Rowe and his children, Robert, Ryan, and Keyli and their mother Patty Rowe; son, Jesse Rowe and grand-dogs Laney and Mason.

A memorial service will be held at 11 am, Monday, July 6, 2020 at Westhampton Baptist Church. The family will receive friends at the church Monday from 10-10:45 am.

Arrangements by R. Hayden Smith Funeral Home, Hampton.