William
William Allen Cobb
d. October 19, 2018
William Allen Cobb, of Lynchburg, Va., age 92, died October 19, 2018. He was born April 13, 1926 in Franklin, Va., to William Emmett Cobb and Ada Cobb (née Gardner). He was a 10th generation descendant of Joseph Cobb of Oxford, England, who emigrated to Jamestown, Va., in 1613. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by an older brother, Roger Wilson Cobb, who died as a teenager.
Mr. Cobb was educated in the Franklin public schools and was a mechanical engineering graduate of Virginia Tech (class of 1949). He spent his working life employed by Babcock & Wilcox, first in Barberton and Akron, Ohio, and then a 32-year stretch at the Old Forest Road Lynchburg office in various engineering and project management positions.
He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in December 1943 and entered active duty service on his 18th birthday. He attended electronic school and flight gunnery school and trained with a B-29 bomber crew for deployment to Saipan (Mariana Islands), but was deflected by an instructor assignment and spent the remainder of the war training other crews.
Mr. Cobb was discharged from the Army in 1946. Almost immediately, he married Jean Claire Wood, age 18, of Pueblo, Co., whom he had met and been smitten by during Army service. They were married for 55 very happy years before her much too early death in 2001. He and Jean had a large family by modern standards, including four daughters: Carolyn Cobb, of Silver Spring, Md., Sara Cobb Sluzki, of Washington, D.C., Joan Cobb Rogers, of Charlottesville, Va., and Mary Cobb Sullivan of Miami, Fla., who provided him with 13 grandchildren (7 boys and 6 girls) and 12 great-grandchildren (8 boys and 4 girls), and happily all surviving in good health.
At his request, there will be no public service.
Tharp Funeral Home & Crematory, Lynchburg, is assisting the family.
Mr. Cobb was educated in the Franklin public schools and was a mechanical engineering graduate of Virginia Tech (class of 1949). He spent his working life employed by Babcock & Wilcox, first in Barberton and Akron, Ohio, and then a 32-year stretch at the Old Forest Road Lynchburg office in various engineering and project management positions.
He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in December 1943 and entered active duty service on his 18th birthday. He attended electronic school and flight gunnery school and trained with a B-29 bomber crew for deployment to Saipan (Mariana Islands), but was deflected by an instructor assignment and spent the remainder of the war training other crews.
Mr. Cobb was discharged from the Army in 1946. Almost immediately, he married Jean Claire Wood, age 18, of Pueblo, Co., whom he had met and been smitten by during Army service. They were married for 55 very happy years before her much too early death in 2001. He and Jean had a large family by modern standards, including four daughters: Carolyn Cobb, of Silver Spring, Md., Sara Cobb Sluzki, of Washington, D.C., Joan Cobb Rogers, of Charlottesville, Va., and Mary Cobb Sullivan of Miami, Fla., who provided him with 13 grandchildren (7 boys and 6 girls) and 12 great-grandchildren (8 boys and 4 girls), and happily all surviving in good health.
At his request, there will be no public service.
Tharp Funeral Home & Crematory, Lynchburg, is assisting the family.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of William Allen Cobb, please visit our flower store.
Guestbook
Visits: 8
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the
Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors