Family of Charles Leroy HUTCHINS and Becky KEEL

Husband: Charles Leroy HUTCHINS

Additional Information

Wife: Becky KEEL

Child 1: Mary Charles HUTCHINS

Child 2: David Carl HUTCHINS

Note on Husband: Charles Leroy HUTCHINS

Charles was born in the old Benbow House (rented) on Ogburn Avenue, in Winston-Salem, NC, to Carl Theodore & Joy Mildred Rierson Hutchins. Soon after that, his family moved to a house with an outside toilet on Mentor Street (also rented). In 1940, his father and mother, friends and relatives, built a house at 3706 Ogburn Avenue, using green wood cut on the farm of Charles' paternal grandfather. This house was equipped with a much appreciated indoor toilet.

In 1953, Charles graduated from Mineral Springs High School, also located on Ogburn Avenue, only one mile north of his house. There, he won awards in band, basketball and academics. He also was awarded a basketball scholarship to Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College). It was there he met his future wife, Becky Keel. After graduating with a degree in mathematics in 1957, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and taught Electronics at Fort Benning, GA. His and Becky's first child, Mary Charles, was born in 1960 in Augusta, GA. In the fall of 1961, he enrolled at North Carolina State University in the Department of Electrical Engineering. After one year spent in the undergraduate curriculum, he was accepted into the graduate degree program. In 1965, He and Becky had their second child, David Carl. In May, 1966, he obtained the Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering (Semiconductor Option) while studying under Professor Robert Lade.

After graduation, Charles worked for Texas Instruments, eventually becoming manager of the new Surface Mounting Technology team. This technology revolutionized the way integrated circuits were made and the manner in which these chips were attached to printed circuit boards. With personal computer manufacturing and miniaturization in its infancy, this technology was in much demand. Charles wrote the definitive text in this field, and subsequently formed his own consulting company to present two week long workshops to electronic companies throughout the world. Charles was one of the first Presidents of the Surface Mount Technology Association, and wrote a monthly column for the trade publication, SURFACE MOUNT TECHNOLOGY. He was still advising many institutions and manufacturing plants on this subject when he died unexpectedly.

He is survived by his loving wife, Becky, their two children, four grandchildren, Mett Sanford Carroll III, Mary Cameron Carroll, Rachel Elizabeth Hutchins and Jonathan David Hutchins and son-in-law, Mett Sanford Carroll, Jr. and daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Lynn Rouse Hutchins.