ORDWAY, William Aiken (Bill)

Arizona Daily Sun, Flagstaff, Arizona Sunday, April 15, 2012 William Aiken "Bill" Ordway died April 11, 2012 at The Peaks. Born in Maine, he moved with his family to California in 1930. He attended the California Institute of Technology and left to join the Army in 1942. He worked as a ground school instructor in Wickenburg, and a flight instructor for the Army Air Corps. After the war, he returned to engineering studies at Stanford University, graduating in 1949. While at Stanford, he married his wife Nancy. After an initial career at the Los Angeles County Bridge Division, he and his family moved to Arizona in 1957, where he worked as an engineer for the Arizona Highway Department in Tucson, Safford, and Flagstaff. In 1965, the Ordway family moved to Phoenix, where he was eventually appointed as the first director of the new Arizona Department of Transportation in July 1974, an agency he was instrumental in creating and administering during its early years. He was the director of ADOT until his retirement in 1985, serving under four governors. He was the president of AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) in 1983-84. He was an avid glider pilot, and a licensed power flight pilot, and was active in Rotary. He and his wife moved to The Peaks in the fall of 2009. He was a loving husband and father, and a kind, warm-hearted, generous man loved and admired by his many friends. He is survived by his wife Nancy, and daughters Sue Ordway (Drifter Smith) and Kathy (Dave) Butler. A memorial service at The Peaks, 3150 N. Winding Brook Rd. on April 18 at 11:00 a.m., and a later service in Phoenix, to be announced. Condolences and memories can be shared with the family at www.norvelowensmortuary.com. This obituary was prepared by the Advertising Department (9280 556-2279.