James E. Hoban Jr.

James E. Hoban Jr., 71, of Brockton, a retired plant engineer, U.S. Army Veteran and amateur genealogist died, Friday, May 2, 2003 at the New England Sinai Hospital in Stoughton after a long struggle with leukemia. Born June 2,193 1 in Weymouth, he was the son of the late James F. and Zelma Beals Hoban. He attended Weymouth and Braintree public schools, and graduated from Weymouth Vocational Technical High School with a specialty in auto mechanics. Mr. Hoban was drafted into the Army in 1951, underwent basic training in Fort Dix, New Jersey, and then shipped out to Korea where he was attached to the U.S. Air Force's 802nd Engineer Aviation Battalion as a radio operator. He saw action during several engagements in Korea, and attained the rank of corporal before being honorably discharged from the service in 1953. Returning to Braintree, he opened Slim's Shop, his own auto-repair garage, and then went to work as a fireman on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad's OldColony Division. In 1959, he joined Hermetite Corporation, a maker of glass-to-metalseals, as a draftsman. After the company's move from Boston to Avon, he became the firm's plant engineer, a position he retained until his retirement in 1995. Mr. Hoban threw himself into a succession of hobbies throughout his life. He raced stock cars as a young man at Norwood Arena, built and flew radio-controlled model airplanes for many years, and ultimately trained himself as an amateur genealogist, an interest he pursued vigorously for the last two decades of his life. He was a former trustee and treasurer of the Dyer Memorial Library in Abington; a past president and member of the Plymouth County Genealogists; a member of the South Shore and Cape Cod genealogists; a member of the New England Genealogists and Historical Society; a member of the Scituate, Norwell, Hanover, Braintree and Bridgewater historical societies; a life member, past president and genealogist of the Stetson Kindred of America; a former member of the Avon Rod and Gun Club; a member of various model airplane clubs; a life member of the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants and the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. He leaves no immediate survivors. Funeral Mass on Tuesday, May 6, 2003 at 9 AM in Holy Family Church, 403 Union Street Rockland. Internment in Holy Family Cemetery. Visiting hours in the Sullivan Funeral Home, 41-45 East Water Street in Rockland on Monday from 2-4 and 7-9 PM. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Dyer Memorial Library, 28 Centre Ave., P.O. Box 2245, Abington, MA 02351.