Editor’s Note: This is another in a series of stories on mayors of the Village of Holland. Holland-Springfield-Spencer Historical Society President Karla Miller submitted this story as part of the village’s centennial celebration this year. Each month, the column will feature one of a dozen mayors the village has had over the past 100 years. This month’s story is about Mayor George Willard Hubbell.
The ninth Mayor of Holland
…Holland and Springfield Township Recollections
Village was George Willard Hubbell Jr., born October 10, 1923, in Holland, to George Willard Hubbell Sr., born 1899, Toledo, and Mabel Aileen Chatwell, born 1902, in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
George Sr. and Mabel were married in Los Angeles, California, in 1920. Daughter Marion, born 1921, and George Willard Jr. were born in Ohio and a daughter, Betty Jean, was born 1933 in California. George Sr. worked at Dana Corporation in Toledo and served on Holland Village Council before moving to Florida. George Sr. died in 1987, and Mabel followed in 1990 in Florida. They are buried at Springfield Township Cemetery, Holland.
George Hubbell Jr. married Lela June Wagner–born April 6, 1928 in Holland, to William C. Wagner and Eva A. Murphy– on August 24, 1946, in Ottawa Lake, Michigan.
June was a 1946 graduate of Holland High School. George graduated Holland High School in spring 1942 and, in November of that year, he joined the U.S. Navy serving during World War II as an electrician for more than three years, earning several commendations.
George was elected mayor of the Village of Holland from 1962 to 1967. He worked hard to support his family as a millwright for Owens-Illinois from 1967 to 1982 when he retired after 15 years. By 1984, George and June had relocated to New Smyrna Beach, Florida where George played golf for 20 years. June had retired from Owens-Illinois Glass Company in Toledo, where she was a private secretary for 20 years. A member of the Municipal Golf Course in Florida, she played on the couples-league. A craft enthusiast, June and her daughter Sandra, born in Ohio in 1947, traveled to craft shows all over the country.
Sadly, June, 72, died Monday May 29, 2000, in Florida. Her body was returned to Ohio for burial in Springfield Township Cemetery, Holland.
Shortly after June’s death, George moved back to Ohio to be near his family; a daughter Sandra and a son George Willard Hubbell lll, born in 1953. George spent his time in Bowling Green playing weekly euchre games at the Wood County Senior Center.
George was a lifelong member of the Holland American Legion Post 646. He died Sunday, January 26, 2020, at St. Luke’s Hospital in Maumee, at the age of 96 years.
Funeral services were held April 4, 2020, at Strawberry Acres Park in the Max Albon Lodge. George is buried at Springfield Township Cemetery in Holland.
