Mechanical sales engineer read avidly in retirement

6/28/2009

William C. Corbin, a retired mechanical sales engineer, died of heart failure Thursday in his Perrysburg home. He was 85.

Mr. Corbin grew up in the southern Illinois town of Wood River, where he graduated from high school. A job transfer moved his family to Perrysburg from Chicago in 1961, his wife, Vivian, said.

Mr. Corbin's employer at the time was Hewitt-Robins Inc., a maker of conveyor components.

Mr. Corbin sold its mechanical equipment and conveyor belting, Mrs. Corbin said.

He was a mechanical engineer by training, having studied the field at the University of Illinois.

He served in the Navy for three years during World War II as an aircraft carburetion instructor stationed in Chicago.

"They had Stromberg carburetors in the planes, and he instructed how to service them," Mrs. Corbin explained.

Mr. Corbin retired 25 years ago and immersed himself in books about religion.

For him, religion was an intellectual subject.

"He read the Bible, the Torah, and the Qur'an," Mrs. Corbin said.

"He liked to research events in the Bible. He had lots of books and marked them with his notes."

Mr. Corbin was a skilled do-it-yourselfer who could handle a wide range of home repairs, from electrical to plumbing.

Mr. and Mrs. Corbin were married for 62 years.

"We had a good life," she said.

Surviving are his wife, Vivian; daughter, Cheryl Mercurio; son, Gregory; six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Services will be at 11 a.m. tomorrow in Witzler-Shank Funeral Home, 222 East South Boundary St., Perrysburg, where the body will be after 2 p.m. today.

The family request tributes to Hospice of Northwest Ohio or Zoar Lutheran Church.