William Fred “Bill” Dawdy was born in Wichita, KS on September 29, 1937. He and his family lived in Topeka, KS and Jefferson City, MO. He graduated from Jefferson City High School in 1955. He was admitted to West Point from the 11th Congressional District of Missouri on a qualified alternate appointment from Morgan Moulder. He was attending Westminster College in Fulton, MO at the time. The year of college before going to West Point was helpful to him; however, it took a while to get over the trauma of the difference between West Point and civilian college, but he did. His easy laugh and optimistic outlook did much to brighten four hard years. Bill was active for four years on the Debate Council and Forum and the Class Ring and Crest Committee.
Upon graduation he married his girlfriend Karen Hockaday, and over the years they had three children: Brad, Matt and Michelle. After the wedding he went to Airborne School at Fort Benning, GA and then to Fort Lewis, WA, where he served in the 1st Med Tank Bn, 34th Armor, 4th ID. Towards the end on his first tour he went to Communications School and Jungle Warfare School. He was then sent to Erlangen, Germany with the 4th AD. (Surprise! There were no jungles in Germany.) With the 1st Med Tank Bn, 35th Armor he was S-3, executive officer, and company commander.
He entered the civilian world in 1964 with IBM in Kansas City. Over the years he stayed in IT with several consulting companies: Peat, Marwick Mitchell (now KPMG), Keane, and Price Waterhouse Coopers. Bill came to Des Moines, IA in 1980 as CEO of UCB Systems. Karen and he then divorced. He subsequently married Evva, added her children—Kirk, John T. and Craig—to the family. Between them they had nine grandchildren. He continued working for a variety of IT consulting firms, retiring in 2001.
Bill made a hobby of studying World War II history, and his unit patch collection consisted of four World War II-themed notebooks titled “(1) Battles,” “(2) Commanders,” “(3) Divisions (Ground Forces)” and “(4) Army Groups, Armies, Corps, Army Air Forces.” He loved to read books by W.E.B. Griffin, Tom Clancy, David Weber, Alexander Kent, etc. He was a fan of NCIS, Fox News and the Kansas City Chiefs. He often listened to classical music, which was inspired by his parents.
Bill was a kind man, loved and respected by his family and friends. His requested Christmas and birthday present was a “gift certificate” to Barnes & Noble. His family was a constant joy.
Bill was proud to serve in the Army. Duty, Honor, Country.