Spurgin William Thomas

William Thomas Spurgin died in Charlottesville on Thursday, October 15, 2015, at the age of 85, surrounded by family and friends holding his hands and recounting his escapades.Bill, the son of Robert Spurgin Jr. and Ruth Van Buskirk Thomas Spurgin, was born on June 1, 1930, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He grew up in Canton, Illinois, and Richmond, Indiana. He served as a radioman and in a radar installation squadron on the front lines of the Korean War. In 1956 he graduated with a BA in Physics from Earlham College. From 1957 to 1995 he worked for Sperry Marine Systems where he was, first, a field engineer for U.S. Navy submarine steering and diving control systems and, later, a project engineer for a variety of navigation, control and instrumentation systems for naval submarines and surface ships, commercial ships and river towboats. Bill held several patents for marine guidance systems.Bill married Ann Hope Smith in 1959 and had two children, Ruth Ellen Outlaw of Charlottesville, and David Robert Spurgin of Ithaca, New York. He married Bonnie Lynne Sheppard in 1983 and became a second father to her children, Amy Swineford, Rebecca Peterson, Christopher Peterson, and Matthew Peterson. Bonnie and Bill have 10 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.On October 15, 1961, Bill became a member of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church-Unitarian Universalist. During the Civil Rights movement he joined the Council on Human Relations to advocate for the integration of Charlottesville schools. He served as President of the church's Board of Trustees from 1995 to 1997 and was the instigator of countless canoe and camping trips that forged his blended family and gained a cult following of several generations of the congregation. Together he and Bonnie served as nature directors and board members of the Southeast Unitarian Universalist Summer Institute.As a young father, Bill criss-crossed the country in a diesel Mercedes packed with kids and dogs, two canoes and a kayak lashed to the top and exhaust soot coating the trailer towed behind. After becoming certified at Annapolis Sailing School, he and Bonnie sailed the Chesapeake Bay and waters off Florida and the Virgin Islands. Upon retirement, Bill was instrumental in acquiring and restoring a 1941 Pennsylvania Railroad caboose and regularly joined friends for "Geezer Lunch" and ROMEO (Retired Old Men Eating Out).Bill's older half-brother, Robert Spurgin III, died in 2006, after which his wife, Lois, often accompanied Bill and Bonnie on trips to 32 countries on five continents and to every National Park in the continental United States.Bonnie and Bill's marriage was exemplary and ardent to the very end. The secret to their success, they said, was to "let the small stuff roll off your back". Besides Bonnie, building furniture was Bill's passion. He imparted inventiveness, precision and craftsmanship to the children of his blended family by welcoming them in his workshop. At one point during the 1970's, each family member slept in a waterbed of their own design and construction. When not in his workshop or reading, Bill was happiest in the kitchen cooking bubble & squeak or S.O.S. (s__t on a shingle). Bill's idea of family was fluid and open; he served as a surrogate father and home improvement guru to many young people throughout his life. An inveterate joke-teller, expert knot-tier, committed Democrat and Scott Joplin fan, he was the go-to guy for answers to most of life's questions.A memorial service will be held at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church in Charlottesville at 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 21, 2015, with a reception to follow. The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church.