1899-1996

William Hobson was born on January 1, 1899, on his father's homestead.  He grew up on the farm doing regular chores and walking or driving to school 11/2 miles from home.  On Sundays everyone went to Sunday School and Church at the Meikle School House.  Bill joined the church at about 1914.  He started high school in Gibbon but in 1914 transferred to Wakita.  He then was able to purchase a motorcycle and went to the Manchester High School in 1915 and graduated from there in 1917.

During Bill's last year in grade school he trapped several animals -- a skunk, a civet cat, a possum and a muskrat.  He sold his catches for $75 which was a small fortune in those days.

After graduation from Oklahoma A & M, Bill was hired by General Electric and wok red at Schenectady, New York as a test man from September 1923 to October 1924.  They then sent him on a government job in the Bahamas where he worked from October, 1924 to July 1927  supervising an electrical construction crew.  He also made the aquaintance of Lillian M. Higgs of Nassau.  In August 1927, he went to work for Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company and worked there Until September 1942.  He did return to the Bahamas long enough to marry Lillian on June 25, 1929 at the home of her parents, Mr. & Mrs. George Higgs, in Nassau.  He held a variety of jobs with O.G.&E including that of Electrical Transmission Superintendant.  Most of this time he lived in either Shattuck or Woodward but in 1942 he transferred to Oklahoma City where he was in charge of the meters and general services.  In 1942, he went to work at the Oklahoma Power Plant at Pryor testing controls.  During this time, they lived at Wagoner.  He left there in April 1945 to go to work for Phillips Petroleum as a design engineer in Bartlesville.  From 1949 to 1952 he worked at their Cactus, Texas plant.  He was then transferred to Borger, Texas where he worked until he retired on January 1, 1964.  He and Lillian then moved to Garber, Oklahoma.

Bill and Lillian have three children.  Ann Marie was born on November 2, 1930 at Shattuck, Oklahoma.  George William was also born at Shattuck on May 6, 1934.  David Franklin was born on June 11, 1939 in Oklahoma City.

Bill was the family historian.  He was the one who did the immense amount of research to trace the family back to Ludwig Long.  He has also done a lot of work in tracing his mother's family (C.R. Lones).