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 A. Kelly Hooks
March 10, 2001
Arthur Kelly Hooks, 75, of 1341 Green River Road died Saturday at home.
Mr. Hooks was a member and chairman of the Planning Board. He was also instrumental in the development of the Hoosac Water Quality Control District and, in 1970, was named Williamstown's Man of the Year.
Born on May 11, 1925, in Bristol, Tenn., he was the son of Dr. Arthur Hooks and Edith Graham Kelly Hooks. His mother was a teacher at Sullins College and an active supporter of the NAACP, and his father was a general practitioner and an ophthalmologist who treated patients for barter or free during the Depression.
He was a Navy veteran of World War II, serving in the Pacific as chief radar officer on an oil tanker. After the war, he used the GI Bill to attend William and Mary College in Virginia, where he graduated with a degree in physics.
After working as a radar operator in Keflavik, Iceland, for a year, he received another bachelor's degree and a master's in electrical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
While working on his master's, he traveled to Holland on a summer exchange program, where he met Willemina deKramer. They were married in 1951. They moved to Williamstown in 1954 and raised six children and eventually were divorced.
Mr. Hooks was employed by the former Sprague Electric Co. as an electrical engineer for 17 years. He was also a consultant for the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission. At the time of his death, he was a patent agent.He designed and built an octagonal solar-heated barn and workshop on Green River Road. A naturalist, he was an expert on trees and loved playing with the inner workings of radios and other machines.
Mr. Hooks was employed by the former Sprague Electric Co. as an electrical engineer for 17 years. He was also a consultant for the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission. At the time of his death, he was a patent agent.He designed and built an octagonal solar-heated barn and workshop on Green River Road. A naturalist, he was an expert on trees and loved playing with the inner workings of radios and other machines.
He volunteered as site manager for Girl Scout Camp Muriel Flagg.
In 1983, Mr. Hooks married Leony Weijers Copeland.
Besides his wife, he leaves a son, David Hooks of Santa Cruz, Calif.; five daughters, Cedar Kelly of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Carolyn Hooks of Windsor, Jennifer desCognets of Williamstown, and Trudy Hooks and Julie Hooks Davis, both of Northampton; a sister, Mary Graham Frith of Bermuda; 21 grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and four stepchildren, Jennifer Spaulding, Manton Copeland, Hans Copeland and Melissa Smith.
A reception for family and friends of Arthur Kelly Hooks will be held at the Williams College Faculty Club on Saturday, March 17, at 2. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Habitat for Humanity or the NAACP through the office of George M. Hopkins Funeral Home, 61-67 Spring St., Williamstown, MA 01267. He also leaves his favorite aunt, Bell Kelly. His brother, Joseph Luther Hooks, died in 1991. His children remember fondly many family camping trips in winter and in summer. His grandchildren and great-grandchildren all referred to him as "Opa." Mr. and Mrs. Hooks spent 18 years together, two of them in Holland.
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