Obituary of William Calvin Humphrey

William (Bill) Calvin Humphrey passed away unexpectedly during the early morning hours of February 18, 2014, at his home in Greenspring Village in Springfield, Virginia. He was 91. Bill was born on April 8, 1922, in Washington, D.C., the son of William (Buck) Caskie Humphrey and Mary Davis Humphrey. He spent his early years in Washington, D.C. attending West Grade School and graduating from St. John’s College High School in 1940. He graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1947 with a degree in Business and Public Administration, and from George Washington University Law School in 1950. Bill met his future wife Virginia Louise Lansdale in the summer of 1943 shortly before he joined the Army. Louise had come to Washington from Missouri to help the war effort by working at the War Production Board following her sophomore year in college. She returned following her junior year in 1944 and moved to Washington from Missouri following her graduation from college in 1945. Bill and Louise were married on January 18, 1947 at St. Paul’s Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. Bill was honorably discharged from the Army the following month and went to work as the Clerk of the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court in Alexandria, Virginia before starting law school as a night student under the G.I. Bill. Bill practiced law for most of his career with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). He started with the NLRB office in Washington, D.C. while in law school and transferred to the Baltimore office after passing the bar exam. He became Assistant Regional Attorney with the Cincinnati Office in 1956 and Regional Attorney in Milwaukee in 1965. He returned to the Board’s office in Baltimore as Regional Director in 1972 where he worked until his retirement in 1978. Bill and Louise’s first son Stephen was born in 1949. Their second son Richard was born in 1950. Having outgrown their one bedroom apartment in D.C., they moved to a two bedroom apartment in Hyattsville, Maryland. They bought their first house in 1952 on Avondale Road in Hyattsville, and their third son James was born in 1953. After his retirement from the NLRB in Baltimore, Bill and Louise continued living in Pasadena, Maryland until 1989, when they moved to the retirement community of Heritage Harbour in Annapolis, Maryland. They moved to Greenspring Village in 2003. Bill was a beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather. He was always very interested in the lives of his children and grandchildren. He had many interests and, after his retirement, mastered many of them, such as jewelry making, photography, genealogy research, and gardening. Bill’s dear wife Louise passed away on November 1, 2012. Bill modeled for his family and friends what a devoted and loving spouse looks like, as he cared so patiently, lovingly, and sacrificially for her in the many years before her death from Alzheimer’s disease. His true passion in life was Jesus Christ. Bill was a devoted follower and put his trust in Jesus each day. He was an avid student of the Bible, and he and Louise loved their trip to the Holy Land after his retirement. He faithfully supported many missionaries through the years. He knew that his Redeemer, Jesus Christ, lives and that he was saved by grace alone. This knowledge defined his life. Bill is survived by his three sons Stephen Lansdale Humphrey and his wife Laura Paynter Humphrey of Alexandria, VA; Richard Davis Humphrey and his wife Sheri Moore Humphrey of Fort Atkinson, WI; and James Alfred Humphrey and his wife Linda Miller Humphrey of New York, NY; and grandchildren Sarah Lansdale Humphrey Reinprecht, and her husband Steven Edward Reinprecht, Laura Abigail Humphrey, William Stephen Paynter Humphrey; John Moore Humphrey, M.D., and his wife Connie Hong hung Keung, M.D., Lindsey Lea Humphrey Hirt and her husband Brian Douglas Hirt, Jessica Danielle Humphrey Melby, D.D.S. and her husband Andrew Scott Melby; Jack Prescott Humphrey and Isabel Juliet Humphrey; and by three great-grandchildren Henning Steven Reinprecht, Mette Lansdale Reinprecht and Davis John Hirt. A chapel service and inurnment will be held at Arlington National Cemetery on August 1 at 1 PM (arrival at 12:30) for both William and his beloved wife Louise. A service of celebration and remembrance for William will follow the next day on August 2 at 1 PM in the chapel at Greenspring Village in Springfield, VA.