Hobart Drake

Hobart H. Drake Jr. of Sherwood Oaks, formerly of Mt. Lebanon, died Tuesday.

He was the husband of the late Mary (Campbell) Drake; loving father of Mary Sue Murphy (Charles) and Peggy L. Drake; brother-in-law of E. Louise O'Donnell, Ruth Campbell Olsen and the late Joseph A. Campbell Jr. and Clare O'Donnell; grandfather of Monica Sorrell and Charles Murphy; great-grandfather of Mark Auliff, Amber Sorrell, Ashley Murphy, Stephanie Murphy and Nathan Sorrell.

A proud graduate of Perry High School in Pittsburgh, January Class of 1939, Hobart completed two years of architecture study at Carnegie Tech, now Carnegie Mellon University, before being drafted into the U.S. Army Reserve in 1941.

He served as an officer in the 69th Signal Battalion, Third Army in the European theater in World War II. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge, helped liberate the Cruznstadt Concentration Camp in France and joined in the longest sustained march of World War II, where he worked directly with generals Patton, Walker and Marshall. He received the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Unit Commendations from both France and the U.S. Army.

In December 1945, he married Mary Campbell five days after his return.

He then began his professional career as an industrial furnace designer with the Rust Furnace Co. and Alcoa.

Hobie retired as a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1968 and from Alcoa in 1983.

His extensive volunteer interests included the Legion of Honor, the Syria Temple of Pittsburgh and the 79ers and a Sunday school class at Mt. Lebanon United Presbyterian Church.

He moved his family to Mt. Lebanon in 1955 so his children could attend Mt. Lebanon schools, which his wife had attended. Hobie and Mary in 1995 moved to the Sherwood Oaks retirement community, where he enjoyed life for more than 15 years before his death.

<B>DRAKE</B> — Friends of Hobart H. Drake Jr., who died Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011, will be received Sunday from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. at the <B>DEVLIN FUNERAL HOME OF CRANBERRY</B>, 2678 Rochester Road, Cranberry Township, 724-772-8800, where services will be at 10 a.m. Monday.