William "Bill" Carl Hart

William “Bill” Carl Hart died early Friday morning, October 22, 2021, at his home in Gilroy,
California. He was born on September 14, 1924, in Wilsey, Kansas to Kirk Hart and Grace
(Yost) Hart and was an only child. In 1930, the family moved from town where his father ran the
Wilsey Lumber Company to a farm not far away when Bill was six years old. Through high
school, he was a Kansas farm kid who milked 12 cows every day before breakfast and learned
how to plow behind horses. In April 1943, halfway through his second year at Kansas State
College in Manhattan, Kansas he enlisted in the US Army. It was in the Army Specialized
Training Program at the University of Missouri, Columbia, where he met and became engaged
to Ruby Newbery. Ruby and Bill married on June 21, 1944, at Camp Rucker near Dothan,
Alabama where Bill was stationed, only a few weeks before he sailed to France. After Bill
shipped out to France in December of 1944, Ruby relocated to White City, Kansas to be near
Bill’s parents and worked in the Fairmont Creamery in Council Grove until Bill’s safe return from
Europe.
Upon Bill’s safe return from Europe he resumed his education at Kansas State in Manhattan on
the GI Bill graduating with a BA in Civil Engineering in 1948. He then joined the US Bureau of
Reclamation and reported to his first assignment on Granby Dam in Colorado where he earned
an early reputation as an engineer with high standards and who was uncompromising when
building big publicly financed water projects. He was the Chief Project Engineer with the US
Bureau of Reclamation on the San Felipe Project (1975-1987) that built a large diameter tunnel
to bring water from the San Luis Reservoir in the San Joaquin Valley to the Santa Clara Valley.
He opened the San Felipe project office in Gilroy and had oversight of all aspects of the project
until its completion. It was the last and most ambitious project of his 39 years with the Bureau.
During the final years of his career, he traveled to India and the Soviet Union through the
auspices of the World Bank as a collaborative expert on large water projects.
Besides working as partners in the Lions Club, Bill and Ruby were active members of the Gilroy
Presbyterian Church. They were also relentless genealogical researchers who spent countless
hours in libraries, county recorders’ offices in several midwestern states, and wherever else the
trail would lead them. They never missed an annual WWII US Army 66th Division reunion. Bill
was a Fellow and Life Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Life Member of the
National Society of Professional Engineers, Member US Committee on Irrigation and Drainage,
Sons of the American Revolution, American Legion, Sons in Retirement.
Bill is survived by his children, sons Jeffrey (Beverly) Hart of Valley Springs, CA; David
(Joycelyn) Hart of Davis, CA; and daughter Patricia Karr of Carpinteria; numerous
grandchildren, nieces and nephews and long-time friends. He was preceded in death by Ruby,
his wife of 74 years.
A funeral service will be held at 2:00PM on Sunday, December 12, 2021, at Gilroy Presbyterian
Church, 6000 Miller Avenue, Gilroy, CA 95020. Pastor Trevor Van Laar and Pastor Bruce
Rowlison will be officiating. Burial will be at the San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery near
Santa Nella on Monday, December 13. In lieu of flowers, any donations made in Bill’s honor
can be made to Gilroy Presbyterian Church at the address above; to the Gilroy Lions Club, PO
Box 2131, Gilroy, CA 95021 or, to the donor’s charity of choice.