Obituary of William R. Hutchins

William (Bill) Reagh Hutchins, 96, formerly of Lexington Massachusetts, and Chapel Hill and Durham NC, passed away on August 22, 2015 in Boone NC. He was born in New York City on March 23, 1919, the only child of the late Leroy William and Mabel Reagh Hutchins. After entering college at the age of 16, he received BA, BSEE and MSEE degrees from Columbia University, where he organized its first student broadcasting system, and was a member of the Sigma Xi scientific research society. During World War II he worked in the laboratory of Major Edwin Howard Armstrong, the inventor of FM radio, helping to develop the first continuous wave FM radar early warning system. He moved to Massachusetts in 1946 to design and direct the construction of the first FM radio station in New Bedford, WFMR. The remainder of his career was spent in the defense electronics industry, leading engineering and management teams at Raytheon, Aerospace Corporation, and Sanders Associates. Following his retirement he moved to Chapel Hill, NC, where he was active in the Quarter Century Wireless Association, and the Orange County Radio Amateurs. He was married to Dorothea (Dot) Johnston Hutchins, a graduate of Barnard College and Columbia University, for 48 years; they had three children together. Several years after her death in 1993, he presented a talk on the early days of FM radio at a Raleigh, NC amateur radio club meeting. A woman who was in the audience realized that she recognized him as someone she had known in the early 1940s while she was a student at the Julliard School in New York. That serendipitous encounter led to his second marriage, in 1996, to Grace Coltrane Kilkelly, whom he had first met over 50 years earlier. Grace died in 2014, two weeks after her 100th birthday. Mr. Hutchins is survived by his sons, James and wife Charlotte Erickson, of San Francisco CA; Robert and wife Paula Wittner, of Patagonia AZ; daughter, Janet and her husband Charles Baldwin, of Asheville NC; granddaughters, Rachel and Elizabeth Hutchins; and step-son, Gary Kilkelly and wife Joanie, and their family, of Boone NC. At his request, no services will be held. Contributions in his memory may be made to the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Foundation Scholarship Fund. Online condolences may be shared with the Hutchins family at www.austinandbarnesfuneralhome.com Austin & Barnes Funeral Home and Crematory is serving the Hutchins family.