William M Underhill Jr

William Murray Underhill Jr, age 63, of Bolton, Massachusetts, passed away unexpectedly on October 16, 2024.

Born August 2, 1961 in Newton, MA, he was the eldest child of the late William M. Underhill and Margaret "Peggy" Daley. Graduating from Milford High School in 1979, Bill attended Sylvania Technical School for Computer Electronics before starting out his career at Digital Equipment Corporation in 1980. Returning to school later in life, Bill earned both an AS in Business Administration from Austin Community College in 2008 and a BBA in Computer Information Systems from Texas State University in 2010.

Bill enjoyed an interesting and innovative career in the design and installation of fiber optic networks. At Digital Equipment Corporation, he was part of a team certifying compliance with Ethernet products and later a Network Manager, working on the installation of one of the first FDDI networks.

At the City of Austin, Texas, Bill was lead in the IT department that installed the Greater Austin Area Telecommunication Network (GAATN), a 300+ mile Multi-Agency fiber optic system.

Returning to MA, Bill was instrumental in building the fiber network under the Concord Municipal Light Plant. This project was the subject of a Harvard University case study on how the town leveraged their electric smart grid into a superior alternative for high-speed broadband.

At the time of his passing, Bill was employed at the Sterling Municipal Light Department, as Network Coordinator with their Local Area Municipal Broadband (LAMB) division.

Bill truly enjoyed working on these municipal fiber-to-the-home projects, not only for the community aspects of the work and delivering a high-quality, leading edge technology product to the local community, but for the collaboration within the broader community of municipalities and vendors involved.

Bill loved to volunteer his time sharing his success stories about Sterling. He authored numerous blogs for Calix, was featured on Calix success stories and case studies, and enjoyed attending Calix ConneXions conference where he was a panelist numerous times over the past years. In 2022, Bill and Sterling won the Calix Operations Innovations Award, in recognition of the fact Bill was leading the charge into advanced technology.

A true innovator, Bill touched many lives within this industry with passion and enthusiasm. Although she was not able join him this year at Calix ConneXions, his wife Kerrie takes comfort in the fact that his final week was spent doing one of the things he most loved..."geeking out" with others who "spoke his language."

Bill and Kerrie met through mutual friends while they were both working at DEC. Originally, they established a friendship but that all changed when Bill visited Kerrie and their friends who had previously moved to Texas. As the only singles in a large group of coupled friends, they got a chance to spend more time one-on-one, getting to know each other better. On his return trip home through Houston, his departing gate to Boston was right next to one returning to Austin...Bill was torn, very much wanting to return to Austin.

Tech geeks to the core, they confirmed a mutual interest via email the next morning and stated dating long-distance, via email and phone. He soon took a leap, found work, and moved to TX to "see about a girl" and they were engaged shortly after. Unconventional from the start, Bill and Kerrie were married at sunset aboard The Flagship Texas on Lake Austin. The couple celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary this past September.

Outside of work, Bill and Kerrie loved to travel, having visited numerous National Parks and other historical sites across the country. In his free time, Bill enjoyed volunteering when his son was in Boy Scouts, participating with the DEC sports clubs (skiing, softball, and bowling leagues), and golfing. In recent years, Bill turned his attention to his new role as "Granky" to his three grandchildren.

In addition to his wife, Kerrie Vercant Underhill, Bill is survived by his son Peter (Erin) Underhill; his siblings, Daniel Underhill, Mary "Beth" (Tony) Richardson, and Michael Underhill; brother-in-law Michael Desjardins; sister-in-law Amy (Herb) Gloff; niece Margaret Richardson and nephew Tony Richardson; grandchildren Rose, William, and Lena; several aunts and uncles, many cousins, and close friends.

Besides his parents, Bill was predeceased by his sister Kathleen Desjardins and in-laws David and Mary Lou Vercant.

A celebration of life will be planned for a later date.