Godley, Frederick Jr.

Description

Fredrick Augustus Godley was born on November 23, 1919, in Rye, New York, to Annie Conyne Wood Franchot, age 30, and Frederick Augustus Godley, age 33. He had one brother George McMurtrie Godley and two sisters Ann and Elizabeth.

Fred graduated from The Hotchkiss School in 1938 and from Yale in 1942. In Rye his family lived at 265 Grace Church St. and were members of the Presbyterian Church. He married Mary McCreath on June 5, 1942, in Dauphin, Pennsylvania. They had four children during their marriage.

Fred served as an officer in the U.S. Navy during World War II. As a Naval Reserve Ensign, he was attached to the destroyer, USS Quick where he served for four and a half years as a Top Gunnery Officer. (See Muster Rolls)

He was on destroyer duty in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean from 1942 – 1945. The USS Quick earned four battle stars during World War II.

After service, he graduated from the Scheffield School of Engineering and began working at PerkinElmer.

He then started the Continental Manufacturing Valve Company, later renamed Xomox, with his friend and co-founder, Lawson Reed. With his interest in medicine, Fred went on to spin-off Xomed, a biomedical application of the high temperature valve technology.

Outside of his vocational pursuits, Fred was the head of the building committee of the Presbyterian Church in New Canaan, Connecticut where he served on the vestry for many years.

He served on the board of trustees for The Hotchkiss School. Fred was a founding member of The Eaglesmere Conservancy, and with his wife, Mary, he founded the Godley House in Rutland, Vermont as a residential transitional house for Spring Lake Ranch, a mental health rehabilitation facility.

Fredrick Augustus Godley died on June 30, 2016, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, at the age of 96, and was buried in Morris, New York.

He was predeceased by his daughter Margaretta Godley, and survived by his three children, Mac Godley, Rick Godley and Betsy Godley Spence and by his wife, Mary, to whom he was married for 75 years.