REMEMBERING BILL CORDDRY

William Harris Corddry left this world for the next on October 29, 2016, at age 95. He was profoundly grateful for his long life and good health; his incredibly lucky, happy marriage to Doris Stovold Corddry (d. 2008); and his three siblings, four children, ten grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren, and many wonderful in-laws, cousins, nephews, nieces, and friends.  He was born in 1921 in Snow Hill, Maryland, spent much of his childhood in, on, or near Chincoteague Bay, graduated from St. Andrew's School in Middletown, Delaware, and studied engineering at Lehigh University.  Unable to serve in the military, he left Lehigh to join the war effort in ship-building, at Bethlehem Steel's Fore River shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts.  This led to a long and satisfying career as a ship-builder, first in Quincy with Bethlehem Steel and then General Dynamics, and then with Bethlehem Steel again in Sparrows Point, Maryland. He loved the complex challenge of building ships. In the course of his career, he was asked to create, organize, and improve major shipyard-wide systems: materials management, quality control, safety, planning, cost control, and the shipyard as a whole. He retired in 1976, and began a long second act devoted to family, community, faith, and friendships.  True to form, he analyzed them as systems too, and re-organized and improved each of them at one time or another!

Bill and Doris met and married in Quincy in 1947. They moved to Cohasset, Massachusetts in 1950, and then moved to Severna Park, Maryland in 1968, where they lived for the rest of their lives. Since three of their four children live on the west coast, Bill and Doris camped across the United States and Canada approximately 30 times, often with a grandchild along to navigate. Over the years, they spent many months in Seattle, and on Denman Island, BC.  Bill never lived more than a mile or two from salt water, and all four of his children have followed his example. He may hold the world record for combined consumption of Blue and Dungeness crabs, as well as Chincoteague Bay (MD) and Fanny Bay (BC) oysters, undoubtedly a factor in his longevity.

His Episcopal church parish communities were a focus of his life, including All Hallows in Snow Hill, Maryland, St. Andrew's School, Christ Church in Quincy, Massachusetts, St. Stephen's in Cohasset, Massachusetts, and St. Martin's in-the-Field, in Severna Park, Maryland.  In all but the first two of these, he served in leadership roles, with particular support for music, education, and governance. At St. Martin's, he felt deep affection for his fellow members of Shepherd Group, Education for Ministry, and Children of Abraham. Children of Abraham was a group which studied the relationships between Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. His leadership of this group reflected his lifelong approach to faith, which was characterized by tolerance, aversion to dogma, open-minded inquiry, and the central importance of community. These values prompted a long participation in AFS—American Field Service—an international student exchange program.  AFS led to lifelong friendships around the world, in particular with AFS "daughter" from Turkey, Güler Kizultun, and daughter Jane Corddry Langill's AFS hosts in New Zealand. Bill was a curious, active traveler who liked to research before going, and learn more along the way.  Thanks to Doris' indefatigable sociability, he also made friends everywhere they went. In addition to their extensive camping all over the US and Canada, he and Doris travelled to Japan to visit daughter Jane as well as Japanese AFS friends.  They traveled repeatedly to the United Kingdom, where Doris has family, and Bill also traveled on business to the Philippines. After Doris' death, Bill enjoyed rambling around Italy with son Tom Corddry, and returned again and again to spend time with daughter Annie Corddry's family on Denman Island, and Tom's and Jane's families in Seattle. For most of his life, home was close to the Chesapeake Bay. He shared a deep love of the natural environment and cultural heritage of the Bay and the Eastern Shore with son Dave Corddry and his family.

Bill was the son of Harris Stagg Corddry (d. 1953) and Rose Irwin Corddry (later Johnson, d. 1968) of Snow Hill, stepson of Emily Stevenson Corddry (later Haight, d. 2000) brother of Alexandra Perdue (d. 2005) of Salisbury, Maryland, Edward Johnson of Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Riley Stevenson (Steve) Corddry of Tewksbury Mass. His cousin Ellen George of Salisbury is loved as a sister, and takes over as the senior family humorist. His beloved cousin Betty Corddry of New York City remains chair of the family art, literature, and theater departments, and beloved cousin-in-law Mary Corddry, still in Maryland, chairs the family history department. He was also very close to Doris' parents Henry and Ida Stovold, and to her siblings, William Stovold (d. 2015) and Gordon Stovold (Florence), and their spouses and children, and shared with them a love of "messing around in boats." Bill is survived by his four children: Tom Corddry of Seattle, Washington, Jane Corddry Langill (Norman Langill), also of Seattle, Annie Corddry (Dennis Lavallé) of Denman Island, British Columbia, and David Corddry (Donna Downing Corddry) of Annapolis, Maryland, as well as grandchildren Matt, Meg, Beth, Claire, Lexi, Kati, Ben, Bob, Andy and CJ, ten great-grandchildren, and a wonderful extended family of cousins, nieces, nephews, and their progeny.

Bill succumbed with remarkable dignity and valiant good cheer to cancer, surrounded by family and friends, and buoyed by his faith. He gave up television forever once the Orioles' season ended. He will be remembered for his remarkable powers of recall, prodigious curiosity, love of the natural world, compassion, faith, clarity of thought, and sense of humor. Most of all, he will be remembered for how truly and deeply he loved Doris, loved his family, loved his friends, and loved this world in which he lived so fully.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to:

St. Martin's in-the-Field in Severna Park ( http://stmartinsinthefield.com/ ), or

The Salvation Army of Maryland and West Virginia ( http://salvationarmymwv.org/ ).

A Memorial visitation will be held on Thursday November 3, 2016 from 4-7:00pm in the Barranco & Sons,P.A Severna Park Funeral Home 495 Ritchie hwy. Severna Park, MD 21146. A Memorial service will be held on Saturday November 5, 2016 at 1:00pm in the St. Martins in the Field Episcopal Church 375 Benfield Rd. Severna Park, MD 21146  to be followed by interment of ashes in the Memorial Garden and a reception in the Parish Hall.