William H. Hebrank, age 91, of Canton, GA passed away Wednesday, May 29, 2013 at Heritage Hospice.



Funeral services are scheduled for 12:30 PM, on Monday, June 03, from the Sixes United Methodist Chapel with Rev. Joe McKechnie officiating. Interment will follow at Georgia National Cemetery.



The family will receive friends from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM, Sunday at South Canton Funeral Home.



William Howard Hebrank, 4/26/22 – 5/26/13. Graduated Baltimore Polytechnic Institute in 1940. Attended Lehigh University and graduated in slightly more than 3 years with a Mechanical Engineering degree. He played on the Lehigh ice hockey and lacrosse teams and was a member of the Chi Psi fraternity.


Upon graduation he joined the US Army and became an Ordnance Specialist. After brief training in England, he entered Europe at Normandy Beach in July 1943 as part of the Third Army. He received 4 Battle Stars from the European Theater during the war and was in the Battle of the Bulge. After the surrender of Germany, he volunteered to be a Beach Master for the invasion of Japan. This was a way to honor his brother, Jack Hebrank, US Marines, who had died from wounds incurred on the last day of fighting on Okinawa. At the time of Japan’s surrender, was on a ship headed to the Philippines for Beach Master training.

After returning, he received a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University and worked for Curtiss Wright Flight Research Lab, Ithaca, NY, using their wind tunnel(s) for research. His work there focused on Ramjet engines for use at supersonic speeds. He also taught Thermodynamics at Cornell. He left there to start work toward a PhD at Johns Hopkins in Aeronautical Engineering and taught Thermodynamics there as well. He also obtained an airplane pilot’s license while there. On June 5, 1948, he married Dorothy Laws Crocker, also from Baltimore, at Weston Farm, her parents’ home in Glen Arm, MD. About a year later, with his first child on the way, he left this program for higher pay and began work in military research in the Annapolis/Severna Park area. During this period, he obtained several patents involving hydrofoils and also developed a specialized circuit breaker used for many decades in airplanes. He also worked several years for US Army Research doing computer and ballistics work at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, in Aberdeen, MD in the mid 1950s.

His corporate career started at Scott Paper, Philadelphia, PA as the Director of Research in 1958. While there, he was involved with early digital programming (rewiring circuits) using ENIAC- period equipment. These were the digital, general purpose, electronic machines (comprised of 1000s of vacuum tubes and miles of wiring).

He left there to work for Turbo Machine Company in Lansdale, PA. His later career involved primarily the use of thermodynamics and heat exchange technology. He obtained patent(s) for heat recovery technology for textile dryers which increased fuel efficiencies and reduced pollution from textile drying equipment. He continued this work at Marshall Williams in Greenville, SC and then worked as an independent consultant at the end of his career.

Wherever Dad lived, he was active in the local Presbyterian or Methodist Church. Sometimes it was just as part of a Sunday School class and other times he was a Deacon or volunteered in other roles. He was active with the community in other ways as well. He was President of the Severna Park (MD) Beachfront Association and the Avalon (NJ) Homeowners Association. In addition, he was active in prison ministry and, even during his 80s, was still tutoring underprivileged high school students in Calculus.

By 1984, he had largely retired, spent time painting as a hobby, and enjoyed the idyllic lifestyle living in a relatively rustic beach home in Avalon, NJ. He started each day with an early morning 10-mile bike ride to Stone Harbor and loved to body surf in the ocean. In 2000, they moved to the Willow Valley Retirement Community in Lancaster, PA. At the end of 2010, they moved to Canton, GA.

He is survived by his Dorothy Hebrank, his wife of 65 years, four children (Jack Hebrank, Sue Chrome, Bill Hebrank and Tom Hebrank), 8 grandchildren (Andy Hebrank, Marty Hebrank, Kelly Hebrank, Jeanie Chrome, Joe Chrome, Bill Chrome, Katie Hebrank and Lindsay Hebrank) and 2 great-grandchildren (Sam Hebrank and Maisie Hebrank. He is preceded in death by his two brothers.

He saw the horrors of war and weaponry first hand and also the Ohrdruf Concentration Camp days after its release from Nazi control (April 1945). Though spending his early working years in the military and in military research, he believed in peace through strength and advocated against war unless absolutely necessary.

South Canton Funeral Home, dedicated to the families we serve, 770-479-3377. Online condolences may be made to the family at www.thescfh.com

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