George Hartwell Householder

George was born on January 7, 1949, in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, to George and Margie Householder. When he was two, the family moved from Emporia, Virginia, to the Wythe section of Hampton, a neighborhood with so many kids that a game of baseball, dodgeball or kickball was never hard to find. Summer nights meant kick-the-can and flashlight tag until 10 o'clock. Summer days meant Vacation Bible School, Cub Scouts, roller skating, bike rides, the garden and Buckroe Beach. In 1960 the family moved to Buckroe, a short distance from the beach and its amusement park, and George graduated from Kecoughtan High School in 1967.

He started working young and never really stopped. At 15 he took his first job at a food stand in the Buckroe Beach amusement park. Over the next few years he worked as a plumber's helper alongside his father, behind the counter at Kearney's Drug Store in Phoebus and Peoples Drug in the Buckroe Shopping Center, and for the City of Hampton. Two weeks after graduating from high school, he went to work at Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, where he entered the apprentice school and completed its four-year program.

On November 1, 1968, he married Loretta Spencer. They had two children, Jennifer and Michael.

In the 1970s, George's work followed the nuclear power industry, and his family followed his work. As a piping superintendent for Newport News Reactor Services, he oversaw the fabrication and installation of piping for a pressurized water reactor, a job that took the family to Ballston Spa, New York, in 1972. They returned to Virginia in 1974, where he prepared construction bids for commercial nuclear plants as a senior analyst with Newport News Industrial Corporation. In 1978 the family moved to Madison, Ohio, where he served as a construction superintendent and later joined the project management staff for construction of the Perry Nuclear Power Plant.

That experience launched a second career. In the early 1980s George became a consultant in contract dispute resolution: the specialized work of figuring out what went wrong on a large, complex project, why, and who should pay for it. The family returned to Virginia for good in 1982. He served as Vice President and Principal Consultant of Contralytics Corporation from 1989 to 2000, then worked independently for nearly two more decades. Over his career he analyzed delays, disruptions and cost overruns for shipyards, utilities and construction firms across the United States and Canada, including Ingalls Shipbuilding, Avondale Industries, Northrop Grumman and Newport News Industrial. He was an expert in Critical Path Method schedule analysis, and his work was relied upon in negotiations, arbitrations, government contract appeals and federal court, where he testified as an expert witness. He finished his last engagement, for Louisiana boatbuilder Metal Shark, in October 2019, at the age of 70.

Along the way, George also built a business of his own. He founded Video Ventures, a video rental store that grew into a franchise with locations across Hampton Roads, and that gave more than one member of the family their first job.

George was steady, hardworking and calm when things went wrong, and he spent his life looking after the people around him. He had an infectious sense of humor. He also loved a good debate, and he could hold his own with anyone.

Family was the center of his life. For the last seven years he shared his home with his granddaughter Ashley, her partner, Travis, and their two daughters, and he loved having a full house. He was a proud grandfather and an adoring great-grandfather. In his final months he was lovingly cared for by his daughter, Jennifer, in her home, and the family is deeply grateful to her.

George was preceded in death by his parents and his wife of 40 years, Loretta Householder. He is survived by his daughter, Jennifer Greer; his son, Michael Householder; his sister, Martha Richards; his grandchildren, Danny Barefoot, Christopher Barefoot and Ashley Greer; and five great-grandchildren.

A visitation will take place on Wednesday October 21, 2026 from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM at Parklawn Wood Funeral Home, located at 2551 N. Armistead Ave, Hampton VA 23666. A Celebration of Life will take place on Thursday October 22, 2026 at 12:00 PM at Parklawn Wood Funeral Home.