William Eric Fletcher

April 4, 1935 – March 18, 2011

Bill was born in Los Angeles to Bernice Westberg Fletcher and William Henry Fletcher. A precocious child, he walked at 10 months and never stopped exploring.

He had a newspaper route when a teenager and as soon as he had saved up enough money, he went to the Glendale Airport and took a flying lesson. He soloed at 16.

Bill and friends Marvin Collins and Tom Berne became involved with ham radios during their high school years - building the radios and talking to people around the world.

He entered Cal Tech when he was 17 and majored in physics with emphasis on electronics and mathematics. After a year and a half, he just had to get involved in flying jets. He flew in the Air Force from 1954-1960 and was a Fighter Interceptor Pilot. Bill retired with the rank of captain after flying the F-86D, the F-102A and the F-106A (which is still the holder of the world speed record for a single engine air-breathing aircraft).

After leaving the Air Force, Bill began his career in computers and electronics. He worked for Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, MA as a member of the technical staff; he developed early time-sharing software and was co-founder of TELCOMP time-sharing service started in September 1965. During the years 1967-1968, he worked at Bedford Associates Inc. in Bedford, MA as a member of the technical staff involved in software, hardware and business development. BAI was a major shareholder in the Modicon venture. From 1969-1971, he was with Modicon Corporation in Andover, MA. He was a founder, president, and director. Modicon was a very early developer of Programmable Controllers, and successfully competed with Digital Equipment Corporation, General Electric, and Allen-Bradley. From 1973-1994, he was with Termiflex Corporation, in Nashua, NH functioning as founder, president, and director. Termiflex manufactured handheld control devices that were sold to industrial companies for their products or manufacturing processes. Bill took Termiflex public in 1983.

During the summers of 1981 – 1983 he attended the Smaller Company Management Program at Harvard Business School. He made many life-long friends in those classes.

After retiring from Termiflex Corporation in 1994, Bill and his wife Judy undertook to educate themselves in boating, purchasing a 44 foot live aboard powerboat in 1997 on which they traveled extensively. From the gulf and eastern seaboard and the inland rivers of the eastern United States, to Puget Sound, WA, the coast of British Columbia and SE Alaska they accumulated 22,000 safe miles of waterborne exploration and adventure in their ten years aboard Meander.

When living in Houston, Texas, Bill began playing competition badminton - a sport he had played on and off since the early 1970’s. Bill loved competing and joined as many tournaments as he could. He qualified to play in the National Seniors Games in Palo Alto in 2009 and was planning on playing in the National Seniors Games in Houston this coming summer. No one who ever saw Bill after he won a match could forget the huge grin on his face and his pride in the medal(s) around his neck!

Bill loved his family and was especially proud of how accomplished his daughters Marie and Kathi are in their careers. He delighted in his grandchildren and was tremendously proud of his very close badminton match with his grandson Eric during the week of Eric’s 21st birthday two years ago – Bill won the match by 2 points. He kept telling his wife, Judy, about all the mariners he met who were jealous because their wives wouldn’t consider selling their houses to move aboard a boat full-time!

Bill leaves his wife of 34 years, Judith (Judy) Berne Sanders Fletcher, his daughters Marie Williams, and Kathi Fletcher and her husband Luigi Bai, grandson Eric Williams and granddaughters, Maya Fletcher-Bai and Ariana Fletcher-Bai, his aunt Clary Westberg, his cousins Jeanne Monaghan, Carol Westberg and Kay Held and nieces Leslie Wood, Lynn Fletcher and Karen Fletcher.

Arrangements under the direction of Valley Funeral Home, Burbank, CA.