Obituary of John Thomas Sliney

John (Jack) Thomas Sliney, 77, peacefully passed away in Reston, Virgina, on August 27, 2023, after a brief illness.

Jack was born on March 31, 1946 in Richmond, Virginia to David Xavier Sliney and Ida Lee Echols.  He graduated from Wakefield High School in Arlington in 1964 and then earned his degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Virginia.  He later obtained an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering at New York University.

He started his career as a Project Engineer at Bendix Corporation where he designed the first aircraft control system having selectively engaged flight director and autopilot means.  His invention was patented by Bendix Corporation.  In 1972, he moved to the Northern VA area where he began working for TRW Defense & Space System Group as a member of the Technical Staff.  He was there until 1987 when he went to work for Dynamics Research until he retired from the Engineering world in 1998.

His true passion however was in woodworking and in hardwood lumber, which began as a hobby triggered by a concern that many very old hardwood trees were being cut down for the building of new developments in Northern Virginia.  He could not stand to see those tree trunks of century old oak, maple and walnut trees being burned.  He rescued large trunks, carried them to a sawmill, took the lumber to a kiln facility in Danville, VA and then sold wood out of a garage in his spare time in the late 70’s.

He opened his business, Vienna Hardwoods, in 1982 in Vienna Virginia and his hobby soon became a successful part-time business.  As the business grew, he added hardwood flooring and a large variety of exotic woods.  He outgrew his little store on Beulah Road and moved to a bigger warehouse in Merrifield.  Once he left the engineering world he managed his business full time and moved his location back to a warehouse in Vienna where he stayed until 2020.  His final location up until his death was back in Merrifield.  He was known to be the most knowledgeable man around if you needed hardwood flooring with the most affordable prices and was wonderful with dealing with customers. He was very well liked by wood craftsman from several surrounding states, who journeyed to Vienna to find unusual hardwoods for use in constructing furniture, unique crafts and flooring.

Jack was fluent in German and enjoyed studying the Russian language.  He loved to travel to different countries and spent time building orphanages in Russia.  He enjoyed translating poetry from Russian to English and co-authored a poetry book. In his earlier years, he enjoyed caving and would take many road trips to explore caves in Virginia and even as far as in Mexico. He was a kind hearted soul who loved his family and friends and took every opportunity to help those in need.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his twin sister Jill Sliney.  He is survived by his brother David Sliney and sister Dee Sliney, his former wives Brenda Sliney and Oksana Mastie; his children Heather Tomas, Brian Sliney and Jacki Hendricks; and his three grandchildren, Marie Laure Tomas, Lucie Tomas and Owen Hendricks.