William T. Toutant Ph.D.
TOUTANT, WILLIAM T. PH.D., of Louisville passed away on Monday, September 5, 2011 at Baptist Hospital East. He was born November 15, 1922 in Auburn, NY. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and served during World War II and the Korean War. He was an officer on the battleship USS Missouri and the submarine USS Blenny. After leaving active duty, he continued to serve in the U.S. Naval Reserve and retired with the rank of Commander.
William "Bill" earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Syracuse University and returned to the Naval Academy, where he taught Marine Engineering for two years. He then accepted a position with the Dravo Corporation in Pittsburgh, PA, where he began a successful career designing towboats and barges for the inland waterways. He continued in the field during his 27 years with Jeffboat in Jeffersonville, IN, where he became vice president and Director of Engineering.
While working at Jeffboat and raising a family of eight children, Bill earned an MBA degree from the University of Louisville. He then continued his education at U of L, earning a Ph.D. in systems science in 1985. For 10 years, Bill taught classes in engineering technology and business as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Louisville. In recent years he was an independent consultant to the marine engineering industry and served as an expert witness in several cases. He was active in Our Lady of Lourdes Church, volunteered as a math tutor at Trinity High School and served for many years as a precinct captain for the election board.
Bill was a devoted husband and father, much loved for his generosity, courage, intellect and sense of humor. He was committed to the value of education and its power to change lives. He was especially proud of the academic achievements of his wife, Eileen Toutant, Ph.D., and those of his children and grandchildren.
Bill was preceded in death by his parents, Loretta McGovern Toutant and Amile Joseph Toutant; sister, Rosemary Brady; and brother, Donald Toutant.
He is survived by his wife of 65 years, the former Eileen Cuddy; sons, William G. Toutant, Edward Toutant and Roy Toutant (Susan); daughters, Dr. Claire Toutant, Anne O'Connell (Kevin), Amy Binford (Edwin), Lucie Mohr (Ron) and Sally Campbell (David); sister, Nancy Williams (Bob); and 17 grandchildren, Sara, Joe, Greg, Matt, Andrew, Daniel, John, Laura, Elaine, Allison, Patrick, Valerie, Anthony, Emily, Brian, Colleen and Jane.
His funeral service will be at noon Friday, September 9, 2011 at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, 508 Breckenridge Lane with burial in Calvary Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4-8 p.m. Thursday at Highlands Family-Owned Funeral Home, 3331 Taylorsville Road.
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As I compose this blog entry, my father has been gone for exactly a month. It's a strange, empty feeling to know that I'll never see him again. Having a parent die is something that most people have to go through, but it's not easy for anyone involved. In addition to all the emotional aspects, there are hundreds of details that have to be handled. One of those details is the obituary, which must be written on a tight schedule by someone who knows all the important biographical facts and cares enough to write something the family can be proud of. So I wrote most of Dad's obituary in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, then my wonderful siblings improved it and submitted it to the funeral home just before the newspaper deadline. This version ran in the Louisville Courier-Journal on September 8 - 10, 2011.
I am posting Dad's obituary here because it will be gone from the Courier-Journal website in a few days and I'd like for it to remain available on the web for anyone who may be interested in the future. Another option is to pay legacy.com $29.99 to keep the guest book online for another year, or $79.99 to keep it online "forever." It is not clear whether the obituary would also be kept online along with the guest book, but I would hope so. I considered paying the extra amount to keep Dad online, which seemed like the least I could do, but then I figured he'd be more proud of me if I saved 80 bucks and posted the obit on my own blog for free. So here I am, updating my blog. All because I asked myself, "What Would Dad Do?"
As for the aforementioned guest book, I should probably also preserve the comments that people left in it, before those disappear. They are posted below:
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