Frederick Hausam Hobdell

Many families follow a tradition of passing on the mother’s maiden name to a child, and that’s the reason for Frederick Hausam Hobdell’s middle name. Both parents, Dorothea Hausam and Frederick Wiley Hobdell, were born in the same year, 1893, and they died in the same year, 1964, about five months apart

Their entire married life was spent at 649 Darby Terrace in the borough of Darby in Delaware County. Fred was the only child in the home until his sister Dorothea was born in late 1920. Their father was a gas meter maker until he took the job of Darby Borough Tax Collector in 1938.

Both children attended Darby High School and Fred graduated with the class of 1934. His yearbook photo, shown above, was captioned with his activities, including the unusual combination of football player and member of the operetta for all four years. His aspiration: “to be a chemist.” His characteristics: “red hair, good and poor jokes (mostly poor).”  His class voted him “Best Physique” and “Best Friend.”

He was a big guy when he was on the football team and perhaps even bigger a few years later when he registered for the draft. That was October 16, 1940 when he was 6’1” tall and 193 pounds. After two years of college, he worked as a pipefitter at the Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Chester.

Fred learned the value of hard work from his father and began to imitate his life of doing good works. This clipping summarizes what his father did as a humble meter maker to give back to his community and Fred was on that same path. Along with his family, he was an active part of All Saints Episcopal Church in Darby and also found time to be an assistant scoutmaster for Darby’s Boy Scout troop.

Even before his country went to war, Fred was drafted into the Army on July 10, 1941. He earned the rank of 1st Lieutenant and became a tank instructor at Camp Bowie, Texas. Like many in the service, he had “a girl back home,” and he came home to marry Elizabeth Roth on March 4, 1944. 

Three months later Fred was hospitalized. The initial diagnosis was yellow fever but it was actually lymphoma, a blood cancer which may have developed without being detected for months or even years. He died in Texas on September 20th. 

Elizabeth was pregnant at the time, and gave birth to their daughter, Elizabeth, exactly nine months after their wedding, on December 4.

Fred’s parents purchased his plot in Section 58, where they were also buried 20 years later.