William Hodges

ATLANTA - William Hodges, 96, passed away on May 15, 2013. He was born on February 27, 1917, in Scotia, NY, the son of William and Nora Hodges. William “Bill” Hodges graduated from Union College in Schenectady, NY with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering in 1939. Bill met his future wife Ethel in the choir at the First Baptist Church in Collingdale, Pennsylvania where he was a bass soloist. Bill and Ethel were married in Collingdale, Pennsylvania on May 11, 1946. The couple raised their daughter Miriam and their son William in suburban Philadelphia, Boston and Atlanta.

Bill worked for the General Electric Company for over 42 years from 1936 until 1979. He held a wide variety of jobs at General Electric including part time janitor, test engineering trainee, engineering assistant, electrical designer, design engineer, and senior design engineer. He held the part time janitorial job at the Schenectady GE plant while he was attending Union College. As a janitor, he worked 25 hours a week during evenings at the noteworthy salary of 25 cents per hour. Bill became a design engineer in 1953, assigned primarily to switchboard supervisory control systems. His various work assignments with General Electric landed Bill and his family in suburban Philadelphia, Boston and Atlanta. The last few years of Bill’s employment with General Electric were in Burlington, Iowa at the switchgear and distribution transformer division. Bill retired from General Electric in 1979 and returned from Burlington, Iowa to live in Atlanta with his wife.

Bill was actively involved in amateur radio as a young adult with “W2HTS” and also later in life with “KJ4GA”. His worldwide communications utilized both code and voice. The roof of his Atlanta home proudly displayed a myriad of antennas. His other hobbies included stamp collecting, listening to classical music, and tinkering with a wide variety of projects around the home. Throughout much of his life, Bill was an active member of the choir at the churches he attended in suburban Philadelphia and Atlanta.

Bill enjoyed taking summer vacations with his family to visit relatives in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont. He also enjoyed weekend treks with his family to explore the mountains, beaches, museums, and numerous historical sites throughout the eastern United States. Bill and Ethel loved planting dogwoods, redbuds, camellias and azaleas in their Atlanta yard. Bill also took pleasure in working on his lawn. He managed to mow his steep yard with a non-propelled mower during the hot and humid summer days of Atlanta until he was 92 years old. Bill was well known for his quick wit and keen sense of humor.

He is survived by his wife Ethel D. Hodges of Atlanta, Georgia, daughter Miriam H. Adcock and husband Phillip of Thomaston, Georgia, and son William R. Hodges of Kennesaw, Georgia. He was predeceased by his brothers Wilfred and David, and his sister Joan Hodges.

A memorial service celebrating Bill’s life will be held at the Winkenhofer Pine Ridge Funeral Home in Kennesaw, GA on Monday, May 20, 2013 at 2:00 PM. Visitation will precede the service from 12:00 PM until 2:00 PM. Messages can be sent to the family by going to the Winkenhofer Pine Ridge Funeral Home website at www.winkenhoferpineridgefuneralhome.com. In lieu of flowers, gifts in memory of Bill may be given to Hospice Atlanta Center, 1244 Park Vista Drive, NE, Atlanta, GA 30319, (www.vnhs.org), or to ARRL, 225 Main St., Newington, CT 06111-1494, [note “Education and Technology Program Fund” in memo line] (arrl.org).