Elwood Charles Hill

Elwood "Woody" Charles Hill, 93, of Pompton Plains, NJ departed this life on April 3, 2014 at his home. Arrangements for a memorial service are currently being planned. Elwood was born in Newark on January 28, 1921 and attended school in Kearny where he was a member of the high school football team. He enlisted in the Army Air Force in September 1942 and was sent to Italy in September 1944 as a gunner on a B-24 Liberator bomber. He served with distinction in five separate campaigns in the Europe Africa Middle Eastern theatre earning the Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters. Upon his return from the war, he met and married Virginia Goeckel, the close friend of his sister. After the war, he rejoined Prudential Insurance Company where he was chosen to be part of a group nicknamed "the brain trust" that was responsible for introducing computers into business operations. He worked for Prudential in Newark and Roseland for 43 years retiring in 1982. He then began a second career with Kay Elemetrics Corp in Lincoln Park retiring from there in 1999. Woody and Ginny traveled frequently to Florida with their three girls. In later years they traveled extensively, touring Europe and Alaska and Hawaii. Woody was an avid jogger often doing 6-10 miles on his daily jogs in West Caldwell. Woody was a member of the VFW as well as the Old Guard in West Caldwell. He and Ginny moved from West Caldwell to Cedar Crest retirement community in 2003. He was predeceased by his parents, Leonard & Anne Hill and his sisters, Doris Baldwin & Ruth Tesch. Woody is survived by his wife, Virginia, and his three daughters, Diane Dunne & her husband Michael of Boonton, Barbara Crump & her husband John of Montville and Lyn Corriere & her husband Richard of Montclair. He is also survived by his seven grandchildren, Kim Redman, Ryan Gates, Lauren Crump, Rebecca Crump, Kevin Crump, Patrick Murphy, Isabella Corriere and Sophie Corriere and three great-grandchildren. Woody was a good man who will be sorely missed by us all. Cremation was under the direction of Ippolito-Stellato Funeral Home, 7 Two Bridges Road, Fairfield, New Jersey.