Obituary of Bill Studdiford

Bill Studdiford was born in Lake City, Florida, on September 17, 1926. When he was approaching 4, the family moved North to Massachusetts - father, mother, older half-brother Ted, and still-a-babe-in-arms Jim. They settled in Oakham, where there was a two-room school house, one for grades 1 through 4 and one for grades 5 through 8. Bill sat in the front seat for grade 1 and absorbed everything up through 4th. The next year he sat in the rear seat and discovered he couldn't see the black board - no matter, he already knew all the second grade lessons! He was back in the front seat for the next year and finally someone realized his vision was poor - 201200, legally blind without glasses. Glasses helped, with stronger lenses every other year ... until 70 years later when cataract surgery and lens replacement finally gave him normal vision.

The family moved to Bedford, Massachusetts, when Bill was 10 and he was Valedictorian of his Junior High class in 1941. His father was afraid the impending war might include bombing of Boston and its suburbs and moved us to Nabnasset, a village which was part of Westford. Lucky Bill - his schooling continued at Westford Academy, where his college prep classes allowed him to meet all the mathematics requirements at Pacific University and to skip a half year of French. He was also Valedictorian there, class of 1944.

World War II wasn't over until September, 1945. Bill's vision kept him out of the army - he worked at a war plant making wire for the Signal Corps. He then moved as far away from home as he could, entering Pacific University in January, 1946, majoring in Journalism and minoring in Art, graduating with honors in 1949. The high school in Silverdale, Washington, needed an art teacher while their current one was on maternal leave ... Bill got the job, and stayed on for an additional year teaching English, thus earning a teaching certificate to fall back on if that were ever necessary. It wasn't.

Bill spent five years at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, as Accountant, Auditor (saving the American taxpayers millions of dollars), and Timekeeper. And while in Bremerton he became active in the Bremerton Community Theatre, acting, designing sets, sound, and lights, directing, and writing one-act plays.

But what he really wanted to do was to get back to the East Coast (and, eventually, New York City). He had an interview with the IBM Seattle Branch Manager - who said he would hire him but couldn't guarantee the East Coast. In the Summer of 1956 he quit his job, packed everything he owned into his car, and drove the nearly 4000 miles to Zephyrhills, Florida. The IBM Tampa Branch Manager hired him and he was sent to Atlanta, Georgia, for training. He stayed in Atlanta for 8 years, teaching other IBM trainees, holding seminars for CEO's to introduce them to the wonders of computers, designing an automated system for Lockheed Marietta, giving the first computer programming class in Puerto Rico. At last the phone call came and he got to New York for IBM.

His next promotion got him into IBM World Trade and many flights to Europe, Rio de Janeiro, and Japan- and one around the world via Moscow. He then was given a two year leave of absence at full pay to help develop and open the Children's Museum of Manhattan, followed by early retirement with a generous Golden Handshake at 55.

The English actor Ian Frost, whom Bill had met during all those overseas business trips, was developing a reputation for playing the Romantic Poet Lord Byron. When he was in NYC attempting to set up a Byron tour involving himself and a mezzo-soprano, Bill suggested he get rid of her and do his own one-man show about Lord Byron ... script by Bill. That began in January, 1984, with six performances Off-Broadway. Thirty years later, we retired, with 12 plays in the repertory and 800 performances in Belgium, England, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Italy, Luxembourg, Scotland, Switzerland, and the USA.

Cancer of the Bladder slowed Bill down, and after 20 delightful years in the Driftwood section of St Petersburg, Florida, where we performed 98 times in the small theatre in his home, it was time to sell and move into Princess Martha Assisted Living in downtown St Petersburg in March, 2015.

          A memorial service will be held on Saturday, July 17th at 2pm at Anderson-McQueen Funeral Home, 2201 Dr. MLK Street North, St. Petersburg, FL 33704.