William Kenneth “Bill” Bode

BODE, VOSS

Posted By: Tara (email)
Date: 3/24/2010 at 10:07:14

William Kenneth “Bill” Bode, 66

Bill Bode died on March 19th in Little Rock, Arkansas as the result of a brain aneurysm. His wife Sue was at his side.

Bill Bode was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. on April 24th, 1943. He lived in Port Jefferson and Hastings-on-the-Hudson and graduated from high school in West Orange, N.J. Bill moved to Iowa City at the age of 16 to attend the University of Iowa, where he was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity and was a varsity swimmer. After graduation he started law school, then the College of Business, until finally settling in the Writers Workshop, from which he received an MFA in fiction in 1968. He was the third baseman on the Workshop’s intramural championship fastpitch softball team in 1968. For many years Bill worked as a union laborer in Iowa and Illinois. He took a hiatus from this work to get secondary teaching credentials in math. He taught high school in Winfield/Mt. Union, Iowa, Edison, N.J. and Edinburg, Texas, but eventually returned to union work and, at his death, was still an active member of Local 75 in Illinois. He continued writing and was at work on a novel set in France and involving high-level physics. His most recent publication was Two Pieces in the Old Style, under the pseudonym G. Bodhi, Scythian Press, Paris-San Francisco-Istanbul, 2009.

Bill married Susan Voss at the Little Brown Church in the Vale, on November 22, 2002 and they have lived in Iowa City. They took many road trips together, particularly to art museums in Boston, New York and DC, and camping trips to the UP, Nova Scotia and Monument Valley. Bill and Sue also shared an interest in billiards and running.

Bill is survived by his wife Susan, stepson Josh (Emily) Voss, father-in-law Milo Voss, brothers-in-law David (Jan) Voss, Richard (Nancy) Voss, Charles (Debbie) Voss, Peter (Lynda) Voss, and sister-in-law Jean Voss. He was preceded in death by his mother Alyce Bode, and his mother-in-law Doris Voss.

Bill will be remembered by his friends, in Iowa City and elsewhere, as a man of integrity, generosity and good humor and for his keen mind and many talents. We will miss you, Bill, but we celebrate your life, well-lived.