JOSEPH (BILL) WILLIAM O'DELL's Obituary
Joseph (Bill) William O'Dell, 81, of Lansdowne, Virginia, passed away Wednesday, November 9, 2022, after a long courageous battle with Parkinson's.
Bill was born in Bruce, West Virginia (Nicholas County), to Joseph Claypool and Dixie Simms O'Dell on October 1, 1941. Bill was the ninth of eleven children, and his father was a Methodist Pastor. Bill was raised in a Godly, loving, and hardworking family. He had many wonderful memories of his childhood and his life in the country.
He attended Woodrow Wilson High School in Beckley, West Virginia. Bill enlisted in the Army on February 11, 1959 and was a member of the 82nd Airborne Infantry. His family called him "Fly Boy” as Bill loved the thrill of the jump and shared his desire to do it again.
After his discharge from the military on April 5, 1962, he moved to Virginia to reconnect with a hometown girlfriend, Suzanne Wiley. In 1963, they married and in 1965, moved to Sterling Park where they raised their three children. In 2005, they moved to Lansdowne Woods, a retirement community, in Lansdowne, Virginia.
Bill was employed by Western Electric. Western Electric became AT&T and then Lucent where Bill worked until he retired in 1998. Prior to his retirement, Bill and Suzanne became entrepreneurs with the purchase of Herndon Reston & Tyson's Corner Answering Service in Reston, Virginia. This truly became a family business lasting 27 years. Renee, Kiska, and Joe played a big part in its success.
Bill loved the outdoors, gardening and always had the prettiest lawn in the neighborhood. He always looked forward to vacation time with family and dear friends on the Outer Banks and Ocean City, as well as the annual O'Dell Family reunions in West Virginia. He was a loving husband to his wife, Suzanne; loving father to his three children and loving Papaw to his five grandchildren. Bill was a kind, funny, generous, creative, hardworking man. He was friendly to all and always made you feel special. No one was a stranger to him; just a friend he had not met yet.
He was of the Christian faith having received Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Even though we are grieving and will dearly miss him, we have faith that he is reunited with those who went before him, and we too will see him again one day.
He was preceded in death by his parents and his son, Joseph Trevor O'Dell, brothers Ron, Gene, Mork, Ben, and sisters Joann Wells and Wilma Phipps. He is survived by his loving wife of almost 60 years, Suzanne, his daughters, Renee (Gabe) Salama and Kiska (Ted) Mattingly. His grandchildren, Aaron and Amarissa Salama, Tyler and Kailyn Mattingly, Hilet O'Dell and many nieces and nephews. As well as, his sisters, Betty Curtis, Linda Allen, Connie Brown and brother, Gary O'Dell.
Family and friends are invited to a Celebration of Life at 1757 Golf Club in Ashburn, Virginia on Monday, December 5, 2022, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Private grave site services will be at Union Cemetery in Leesburg, Virginia.
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