William Happ II ’46 died on April 18, 2021 in Fishkill, New York.
(The following was published in www.tributearchive.com)
William Happ II, age 95, a resident of Hopewell Junction and Poughkeepsie, died at Wingate of Dutchess on April 18, 2021. Born in South Bend, Indiana, on August 4, 1925, he was the son of the late Robert Happ and Helen Lang. He attended Bowdoin College, Maine, prior to the start of WW ll. Will interrupted his education to volunteer for service in the US Navy. While in the Navy he studied at the Japanese Language School in Colorado, ending his service at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 1946. Following his honorable discharge from the Navy, Will returned to Bowdoin College to finish his undergraduate degree. He then pursued graduate studies at Colombia University in New York City where he received a master’s degree. Will taught at Rutgers University and was also a playwright, several of his plays were performed off Broadway in the 1950s. In 1962 he moved to Hopewell Junction and in 1965 he started teaching at Dutchess Community College in the English and Humanities Department. In 1989 he retired as a professor emeritus. He was predeceased by a long-time friend Dr. William Bond in 2007 and by his brother, Robert Glenn Happ, and his parents. He leaves behind his devoted caregivers: Liz Pavelka, Anne Kasin, and Carleigh Koren.