William Johndrow

Born December 28, 1935

Died April 8, 2022 at age 86

Bill aka Easy Rider, The Great White One (due to his beautiful head of wavy white hair) and Mr. Magnificent (a name he thought fitting for himself) was born in Norwich Ct and attended Norwich Tech. He joined the Navy before graduating. He was stationed in Guam during the Korean War. An island he loved. He completed his GED many years later. After the Navy he went to work for Electric Boat in the piping field. He left EB to pursue a career building nuclear reactors at Atomic Power Plants in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He ascended to the role of General superintendent and was responsible for over 3000 union craftsmen on a Nuclear Plant project in Pennsylvania. He also ran projects in the construction of coal fired power plants. After his time in the nuclear industry, he kept working in the same role but switched over to the construction of paper products manufacturing factories and other consumer-based products. He had a natural ability to organize and long before computers arrived he had his own hand drawn spreadsheets. He also owned Pasquales Pizza and Pasta in Terra Haute Indiana and tried the restaurant business. He retired to come and work "part time" for his daughter in the appraisal business. He thought he would have time to do more antiquing in his spare time but he says she worked him so much he had no time. He ended up starting his own appraisal business and still didn't have enough time. I will never forget all the times we got "lost" when trying to find properties before we had GPS. His "where the hell are we?? always cracked us up. He loved antiques and had quite a collection at one time and always had a beautifully decorated home. He also enjoyed listening to many types of music. During the 1960’s he and his friends constructed race cars. They raced at the Waterford Speed Bowl. They built them in a rented 3 car garage across the street and the kids would sit on the sidewalk for hours just to listen to them fire up the engine with open headers and occasionally race it up and down Penobscot Street. He loved fast cars and had quite a few hot rods and many speeding tickets. Pizza was his favorite food and he would eat it every day if he could. During his last few years he was tormented with severe Lewy BodyDementia, blindness and other ailments but every once in awhile he’d offer up a gem of a memory. He was also great at giving advice. Bill would go without just to help others.

A special thankyou to all the staff at Chestelm Rehab in Moodus where Bill resided for the last few years. They showed compassion, companionship, friendship, respect and humor with our Dad. The special care he received there went beyond our expectations.

He loved his children and was very proud of them all. He leaves behind his children William Jr., Pamela and Candace Johndrow, his 7 grandchildren and his siblings, Russell, Carol, Joan and Calvin and nieces. He was predeceased by his parents Oliver and Marian and stepmother Marlene.

At Bill's request there will be no services.