William Carmien Daley (September 11, 1926 – June 30, 2019)

William—beloved husband, son, brother, father, grandfather, great grandfather, uncle, friend and mentor—passed away peacefully and surrounded by family at his home in Florida on June 30, 2019.

William (Bill) was born in Vineland, New Jersey on September 11, 1926 to Philip and Mary Daley. From there Bill began a lifetime of service, innovation, and teaching.

Bill attended school in the Bronx, NY, and graduated high school in Suffield, CT, before joining the Army. He enlisted as a Private in the Army Air Corps at Fort Devens, MA, on March 10, 1944 and was quickly assigned to the 13th Air Force, 44th Fighter Squadron, as a flight engineer. Stationed in the Philippines on Palawan Island during World War II he and his fellow servicemen's first task was to make a runway at the Puerto Princesa airfield, which had recently been captured by the Marines from the Japanese. He serviced all the aircraft used in the Pacific, including the well-known P-38 Lightnings, P-51 Mustangs, B-25 bombers, and the lesser-known P-61 Black Widows.

Towards the end of the war, he was injured in a B-25 plane crash where he was the sole survivor. Back in the states he spent five years recovering from injuries at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C. During his stay at Walter Reed, Doris Day gave a concert at Ford's Theatre, singing "It's Magic," a story Bill would often share with fascinated family and friends. He was honorably discharged at the rank of Sergeant on January 31, 1951.

Bill graduated in 1955 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Hillyer College at the University of Hartford. As a graduate student at Cornell, with four children, Bill sought to create improved-design prosthetics benefiting future servicemen. He graduated with a master's degree. This focus had him advocating for servicemen in circumstances similar to his own; and he successfully lobbied Senator Kenneth Wherry for better care of wounded veterans. After Cornell, Bill spent the majority of his long engineering career in the aerospace, medical, and technology industries. Bill loved teaching and taught engineering at Western New England University in Springfield, MA, for six years.

He was Chief Engineer for several companies with electro-optical and mechanical products. He held 22 patents. In the 1960s Bill worked for Hamilton Standard, a contractor for NASA and the military. There he was on a team tasked with producing an environmental "scrubber" for the air breathed by astronauts in Project Mercury, the first human space flight program of the United States. It was one of many engineering projects he worked on throughout his life.

Bill had many interests and hobbies. He was an avid modeler and loved to build wooden radio-controlled planes and boats. Many of these he gave to his friends and family or donated. Early on, he started his modeling hobby with simple glider kits. Later he would devise ways of making his own scale models from original blueprints. He took particular interest in Gold Cup racers, attracting the attention of serious collectors and boat makers. Bill made two copies of Gold Cup Racer "Impshi," and delivered one to an owner of a reconstructed life-size version of the historic boat at Lake Winnipesaukee, NH. In exchange, the owner took him for a whirlwind ride on Impshi. In 2003 Bill debuted a model of a Victorian-era river steamboat put together by three generations of Daleys.

Bill also collected and restored antique cars, and was an accomplished artist and jewelry maker. He had a great sense of humor and was known for lively and interesting conversations. He loved cooking and sharing his time with his family and friends, especially at the beach. He was kind hearted and generous to all and loved teaching others about his passions. Many of Bill and Helen's friends and family maintain that they would not have the wonderful lives they have today if not for the advice, encouragement, and direction of Bill and Helen - they were an absolute inspiration.

William was predeceased by his beloved wife of 55 years, Helen Florence Daley, in 2004. They made their home in Suffield and West Hartford, CT, and Longwood, FL. He is survived by four sons: Philip C. Daley, William C. Daley Jr., Peter A. Daley, and Michael S. Daley; two daughters: Helen O. Giunta and Mary Nunn; numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, god-children, grand-nieces, grand-nephews, many cousins, and friends. William was predeceased by his brother Philip Daley and sister Gloria Daley.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to the William C. and Helen F. Daley Memorial Fund at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105. The public website is: http://giftfunds.stjude.org/daley

A graveside service will be held on August 31, 2019 at St. Joseph's Cemetery, Suffield, CT, at 10:00 a.m., with a memorial gathering to follow.