William J. Evans

William (Bill) Evans died on September 3 at The Village in White River Junction, VT. He was 88.

Bill was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, on July 5, 1938, to William Evans Sr. and Margaret (Thomas) Evans.

Bill grew up on 9 Mile Road, outside of Detroit, where he delivered newspapers on this bike through every kind of Michigan weather. The son of a Ford Motor Company manager and a mother active in local government, Bill helped his father in a side business repairing radios as a teenager and became an avid HAM radio operator, a hobby he would continue into retirement. He graduated from Southfield High School in 1956.

Bill attended the University of Michigan, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and met his future wife Saundra, selling off some of his HAM radio equipment to buy her an engagement ring. They attended Michigan football games together, an autumn Saturday afternoon ritual they would continue from afar for the rest of their lives.

In the early 1960s, Bill served in the US Air Force, monitoring radar for Soviet activity during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis from Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida panhandle.

After serving, he returned to the University of Michigan and earned both a master’s degree and PhD in Electrical Engineering.

In 1969, Bill moved with his young family to Berkeley Heights, NJ, to work for Bell Laboratories, an organization that he revered and felt honored to work with some of the smartest people in the world. He spent his entire career at Bell Labs, which later became Lucent Technologies, and was a pioneer in the development of semi-conductor and chip technology. Bill ended his career at Lucent in Allentown, PA, where he was directing the development of software to design chips.

Bill remained an enthusiastic builder and repairer throughout his life and loved nothing better than to use just the right tool to fix something. During the 1970s, he amazed and frustrated his children by spending a year assembling a color TV from a kit rather than buying one.

In retirement, Bill volunteered for the Small Business Administration’s SCORE (Service Corp of Retired Executives) program, counseling aspiring entrepreneurs and overseeing the Allentown, PA, operations of the organization. Bill also enjoyed summer retreats at a home in Chatham, MA.

He also doted on his four granddaughters, showing them the stars and planets through his telescope and taking every opportunity to explain to them how things in the universe work.

Bill is survived by his wife of 66 years, Saundra Evans; two children and their spouses, Michael Evans, Kirsten Bjalme-Evans, and Christine and Dean Richard; his four granddaughters: Sabrina Evans-Cook (Kevin), Holly Bjalme-Evans, Sophie and Gareth Cordery, and Meghan Evans; his brother Richard Evans, his god daughter Carrie Fedele and her husband Paul, and his brother-in-law Lyle Witherspoon.

In his memory, please consider a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Knight Funeral Home of White River Junction, VT assisted with arrangements and condolences may be expressed in an online guestbook at www.knightfuneralhomes.com.