William Louis “Bill” Rice, 80, of Marietta, Ohio passed away on August 28, 2021, at Marietta Memorial Hospital surrounded by his family.
Bill was born on December 28, 1940 in Marietta, a son of Norman Edward and Geneva (Morgenstern) Rice. He graduated from Marietta High School in 1959, where he excelled at playing football. He served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam era as a helicopter crew chief, and retired from the Ohio Department of Highways as Superintendent. Bill had also worked for the City of Marietta. He was a member of The Basilica of St. Mary of the Assumption, Marietta Jaycees and American Legion Post 64. Bill enjoyed farming, camping and being involved with his family and their friends, especially the children.
He is survived by his wife, Brenda (Weber) Rice: daughter, Stacy Lee, of Marietta: 2 grandchildren, Jared Lee, of Marietta and Breanna Grassie (Patrick) of Atoka, TN: 3 great-grandchildren: Annabelle, Jackson and Josephine: 4 sisters: Joan Richards (Larry) and Theresa Seese (Bill), all of Vero Beach, FL, Caroline Vargas, of Houston, TX and Selma Jeannette Farmer of Pamplico, SC.
In addition to his parents, Bill was preceded in death by sisters: Sarah Louise Rice and Mary Evans.
Visitation will be on Tuesday, August 31, 2021 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., at the Marietta Chapel of Cawley & Peoples Funeral Home. Funeral Liturgy with Mass will be at 1:00 pm at The Basilica of St. Mary of the Assumption with The Rev. Msgr. John Michael Campbell celebrating. Burial will be in New St. Mary’s Cemetery with Military honors at a later date.
Donations may be made in his memory to the St. Mary’s Women’s Club, at 506 4th Street, Marietta, Ohio 45750.
Cawley & Peoples is honored to serve the Rice family and offers online condolences as well as many other resources by visiting their website, CawleyandPeoples.com or by going to their Facebook page.
https://www.mariettatimes.com/obituaries/2021/08/william-louis-bill-rice/
Susan Miner (McGuire '60)
A truly nice guy friend to everybody.Francia Rake (Engle)
Always a friend to all. A great guy and he will be missed. Fran Engle
Robert Lovett
Dear Marietta High School Friends, While I didn't know William "Bill" Rice well because my family and I had moved from Warner, OH to Marietta, OH after the first quarter of the year. And, for me, and it took me some amount of time to become acquainted with so many students as Lower Salem High School only had about 20 students in my students whereas Marietta High School had well over 200 students. However, eventually, I adapted and knew quite a few of the students in my math and science classes.
What I want to comment on today, about William "Bill" Rice, is that he served in the US Army as a helicopter crew chief during the Vietnam Era and the helicopters in Vietnam took a lot of the Vietcong shelling or enemy fire. So, many helicopter pilots and their crew were killed by enemy fire. Therefore, "Bill" would have seen the war in Vietnam up close and very personal. On the other hand, I served in the US Navy from 1960 to 1964, during the Vietnam Era, as an Electronics Technician repairing and calibrating the electronics of US Navy weapon systems including mines, torpedoes, and atomic weapons. Some of these weapon systems were eventually used in the Vietnam Era. But, I personally never saw war up close and personal as I performed my duties on the island Oahu, Hawaii working in a US Navy Calibration Laboratory, located on the west lock of Pearl Harbor.
After serving in the US Navy I came back to Ohio in 1964 and found employment at the Aerospace Guidance and Meteorology Center (AGMC) or the Newark Air Force Base located in Heath, OH. I worked in the Quality Assurance Division as a Quality Assurance Specialist and my responsibilities were to ensure ALL US Air Force Inertial Guidance Systems of both Aircraft and Missles were repaired in accordance with Air Force Regulations. Eventually, I was promoted to a management position as the Quality Assurance Branch Chief in 1980. Then in 1981, I was promoted to the position of Division Chief of the Computer Directorate responsible for the management of ALL 34 mainframe computers on the base, as well as all telecommunications on the base, as well as the management of some $3.5 million dollar budget, plus the acquisition, installation, and management of the first-ever Local Area Network (LAN) in our Command.
I was also the President of the local AGMC Air Force Association, and in that position, I had to make a couple of trips to Washington, DC for business meetings. During those visits, on two different occasions, I had the opportunity to visit the Vietnam wall which is a huge black granite wall with the names of members of ALL services who were killed in Vietnam carved into the black granite wall. For me, the Vietnam wall was a sad reminder of the 58,479 men and some women who gave their lives fighting for the freedom of the South Vietnam people. I was later given a picture of the Vietnam wall with a man placing his hand on the Vietnam wall with tears flowing down his face. That picture still hangs in my electronic repair shop to this day in time.
So, today, September 8, 2021, I honor the life of a fellow veteran, William "Bill" Rice, who served America admirably during the Vietnam Era, therefore, I honor his service to Amerca, "Land of the Free and Home of the Brave." ! :-)
Signed,
Robert E. "Bob" Lovett