George Needham

George Andrew Needham of Valley Grande passed away on October 10, 2022 at the Vaughan Regional Medical Center.

He was the son of the late Ronald and Amelia Needham of Portland Oregon.

He was the beloved husband of Kathleen Needham and father to Chris Needham of Ipswich Massachusetts and Andrew Needham of Gold Valley Arizona.  He was stepfather to Kevin Ondrey of Willoughby, Ohio, Katherine Ondrey of Grayling, Wisconsin and Christine Atchison of Parker, Colorado.  George was grandfather to Emma and Susannah Needham; Eric and Andy Needham: and Dakota Webster, Nicole Sorenson and Emma Grace Atchison.

He was predeceased in 2016 by his older sister Barbara Berglind of Port Ludlow Washington.

George lived an interesting life, to put it mildly.  When he was young his father worked for the railroad, repairing, and maintaining depots across the west.  Crew members and their families lived in tents, so George’s family was quite excited when they were able to buy a trailer of their own to live in!  When WWII broke out George’s father got a job in a shipyard in Portland Oregon where George lived until he graduated from high school.  After graduation from college he and his family lived in Collingswood NJ, Scottsdale AZ, Seoul Korea, Hong Kong, Tokyo Japan, and Menlo Park CA before settling in 1991 in Valley Grande where he retired with his wife Kathi.

George was in on the very beginnings of the semiconductor industry, working first at RCA in New Jersey in the late 1950’s and then continuing for many years as a Vice President at Motorola- his job at Motorola is what took him across the globe.

George loved working on things, cars in particular.  He had a paper route when he was young and used the money to buy his first car when he was 14!  His dad made him trade it for a car that had hydraulic brakes and they then worked to get it running until George got old enough to get his driver’s license at 16!  He owned several exotic cars and restored a few classics in his time, most notably a 1949 Allard which sold at the Amelia Island Concours in a memorable auction.  One of his favorite things to do was chauffeur wedding parties in Selma in his 1956 Rolls Royce.

After his retirement George and his wife Kathi have been heavily involved in the Selma community.  George was the chairman of the Selma Housing Authority for years and he also served the community as a longtime member of Rotary.  He was involved with the Selma Historical society.

He was always there for his friends and family- this simple statement cannot fully describe how much support he gave to his children and grandchildren.  He will be missed terribly.

Family and friends are kindly invited to a viewing at the Selma Funeral Home at 12-2 pm on Saturday the 15th of October.  A reception will follow at George and Kathi’s home at 127 Deep Woods Circle in Valley Grande.

Final care and arrangements have been faithfully entrusted to the caring and professional staff of the Selma Funeral Home.