Clyde Jay Stratton, 93, passed away Aug. 12, 2025, at his home in Eatontown. Almost everyone will remember him fondly as C. Jay. He was surrounded by his wife, Barbara Amelchenko Figaro Stratton, and his combined loving family.
He was born Sept. 9, 1931, in Columbus, Ohio. He was predeceased by his parents, Jay Pierce Stratton and Sarah Lenz Stratton of Columbus, Ohio; his wife Ann Morris Stratton in 1974; and his son Eric Bergmann in 2019.
C. Jay is survived by children Fred Stratton and wife Kathy, William Stratton and wife Mira, Mathew Stratton and wife Lisa, Linda Graczyk and husband Scott, Sally Zegas and husband Stuart, William Rupy and wife LeAnn, Kathleen Rupy and husband Edward Poplawski, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
He began his decades-long U.S. Navy career with training at Naval Air Station Columbus in Ohio in 1949 as an aviation electronics technician. He was a combat aircrewman gunner in Navy Patrol Squadron VP691. After two years, the squadron was deactivated and C. Jay transferred to the Naval Reserve. He spent many decades as an active drilling reservist with numerous short stints of active duty on assignments that led to a dual-hat role in the Department of Defense as a civilian and part-time sailor, working in the security and intelligence community. He saw duty aboard patrol crafts, destroyers, aircraft carriers and deployed with Special Warfare Group 2, Little Creek, Virginia, as a member of the Undersea Warfare Unit. He later worked for North American Rockwell in Columbus, Ohio.
He moved to New Jersey in 1950 with his family to accept an internship that ultimately led to a position as an instructor with the U.S. Army Signal School on Fort Monmouth. He later served as the director of Satellite Communications Training of United States and NATO military personnel for several years until the activity relocated in 1974 to Fort Gordon, Georgia.
In 1968, C. Jay, along with Hon. Joseph Azzolina in his capacity as a captain in the USNR, established a United States Naval Sea Cadet Unit at Naval Weapons Station Earle, which educates and trains young men and women for a future career in the Navy. He headed the unit for 40 years before retiring.
In addition to supporting various Naval Reserve projects as a career employee at Fort Monmouth Communications Electronics Command, in the 1980s, C. Jay was the project leader in the final stages of development and initial production of the Global Positioning System (GPS) Equipment Military Cell Phone. That technology was later adopted by private industry and made available for global use.
He was chosen as the executive officer, coordinating the development and production of the military cell phone for the Mobile Subscriber Equipment (MSE) Program, a part of the civilian application of the current cell phone.
During his lengthy and varied career in the Navy, both on active duty and as a reservist, he attained the rank of Command Master Chief USN and retired as a lieutenant commander of the Naval Sea Cadet Corps. In an interview, C. Jay stated that he was always proud and humbled to work in the company of men and women who would give their lives to protect their freedom.
The article originally appeared in the August 28 – September 3, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
