HOBDAY, Harold William 

Mar. 8, 1917 to Dec. 16, 2009

Harold passed away peacefully, at home, at the age 
of 92 due to congestive heart failure. Preceded in 
death by parents, William and Phoebe Hobday; sister, 
Helen Ross; brother, Don Hobday. Harold has three 
grandchildren, Kevin Lewis, Tracy Clark, and Renee 
Rehder and six great-grandchildren. Harold was born 
in Lodi and lived in Galt most of his life. Married 
in 1945 to Grace (Ginger) Dunbar from Iowa. He and 
Ginger have lived the last two years with their only 
daughter, Mary Lou Thresher and son-in-law Robert 
Thresher in Placerville. Harold's schooling started 
at 4.5 years with his mother teaching at the Laguna 
School and first grade at Brown School. Finished 
schooling at Arno, Galt High and Sacramento Jr. 
College for 1.5 years. Worked for Lockheed Aircraft 
Co. in Burbank, CA, first in the shop where he 
helped build the airplane that Howard Hughes flew 
around the world in 1938. Later in engineering he 
worked for 6 years on the P-38, known to the 
Japanese as ''the fork-tailed devil.'' Back home in 
Galt, Harold learned welding and designed and built 
a land leveler and a clod buster. Other inventions 
and patents include hand held clamps. He enjoyed 
riding motorcycles and built a 'trike' four wheeler 
motorcycle (with training wheels on a Honda). He 
enjoyed riding a bicycle backwards, playing 
volleyball, horseshoes, writing poetry and various 
Letters to the Editor. His favorite recent activity 
was playing harmonica with his Galt music friends. A 
memorial service will be held at the Valley Oaks 
Grange Hall, 347 5th Street, Galt, Tuesday, December 
29 at 11am. 

Published in the The Sacramento Bee on December 26, 
2009