William Boddy Jr.82 passed away Wednesday May. 28th at the Lawrence General Hospital after a long illness.
Bill was born in Lawrence and grew up on Prospect Hill in a close family of five boys, he being the youngest.
Bill graduated from the John R Rollins School and later Lawrence High School 1943 and soon volunteered to serve his country in the Merchant Marine. He saw service in the North Atlantic and in North Africa ferrying troops and the wounded on hospital ships to and from the warfront.
After the war the lure of the ocean kept him on the sea as he worked for Boston Fuels on coastal tankers all the while working in a family business delivering Curran and Joyce soda and other beverages. In the mid fifties he started as a New England Telephone installer/repairman retiring in 1986 from special services.
He dabbled in real estate owning several properties over the years. When he retired in 1986 his colleagues joked that there would soon be a Century 21 For Sale sign on his desk.
Bill loved the railroad remembering fondly the steam trains rumbling through Lawrence in his youth. In 1982 he was able to rescue a 1932 Caboose from the Boston and Maine Rail Road as cabooses were being phased out. He restored it and today it is sited in Windham, NH on the rail trail in that town.
Bill loved Florida and visited his brothers, friends and son almost every winter, as he never forgot his love of the ocean.
His wife Claire M, of Salem, NH survives him. Daughter in law Tina and son William III of Stuart, Florida, Son John F, of Dracut survive him, grandsons William IV, of Methuen, James of Dracut and several nieces and nephews.
Services were and interment were held Thursday afternoon at the Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Lawrence. Arrangements are under the direction of the John Breen Memorial Funeral Home, Inc., 122 Amesbury Street, Lawrence, MA. For online condolences and other information, please go to www.breenfuneralhome.com.