RIP Willard E. Marcley

Willard E. Marcley, age 93, of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, passed away on August 30, 2021.

Willard Marcley has lived in Portsmouth, RI for the past 35 years and following his retirement from Raytheon Company in 1990. He was born September 20, 1927 in Schenectady, NY where he graduated from Mont Pleasant Technical High School in 1945. Following graduation he enlisted in the US Navy and service for three and a half years as an electronics technician on several Navy ships in the Pacific theater of operations. Upon discharge he entered Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he graduated in 1952 with a bachelors degree in electrical engineering.

In 1952 he married the former Nancy May Young of Schenectady, NY and the moved to Wayland, MA where he joined Raytheon as a junior engineer. He advanced in engineering and engineering management posts and, in 1967, was named manager of telecommunication programs. He was named to head the Equipment Division’s communication systems directorate in 1976. In two years he was promoted to manage the division’s development laboratories in Wayland and Sudbury, MA, and in 1981 he was appointed as a Raytheon Vice President and General Manager of the Submarine Signal Division in Portsmouth, RI.

Willard has been an active member and Elder of the First Presbyterian Church in Newport for more than 30 years. He has also served in various civic organizations including the Newport Chamber of Commerce, the RI Public Expenditure Council, and the Navy League.

Mr. Marcley’s beloved wife Nancy died in 1998. He has a son William Neil Marcley and his wife Niesje of Bedford, MA; a daughter Linda May Sibony and her husband Patrick of St James, NY; grandsons William C. Marcley of Yukon, OK and Alexander E. Sibony of Burlington, VT; and granddaughters Sarah C. Marcley of Brookline, MA and Laura May Sibony of Washington, DC. Mr. Marcley also has a sister Doris Hicks of Saratoga Springs, NY.

A graveside service will be held on Saturday, September 11, 2021, at 1:00 PM at Memory Gardens Cemetery, 983 Watervliet-Shaker Road, Albany, NY.


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