08/19/2002

Position Classification - If I haven't talked to you about the new position classification scheme by the end of the week, please make it a point to call me.

Dr. Victor C. Hobday - Dr. Hobday was the second executive director of MTAS, serving from 1952 until 1980. He was also the first management consultant when he was hired in 1950. He passed away Friday. We will miss him dearly. Here's a copy of an article from the Knoxville News Sentinel this morning.

Mr. Hobday, former chief of UT's MTAS, dies at 87

August 19, 2002

Victor C. Hobday, former head of the University of Tennessee's Municipal Technical Advisory Service, passed away Friday at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center at the age of 87.

Mr. Hobday, whose expertise in managing city governments won him friends and admirers across the state, was also an avid gardener and devoted husband and father, relatives said.

"He was very involved in everything I did growing up," said daughter Cynthia L. Hobday. "He came to all the softball games, and we'd go out in the yard and play football. He taught me how to punt."

Mr. Hobday's interests and accomplishments were many, she said, but he was always fondest of his work for MTAS. "He was real honored when people would call him up for advice, even after he retired," she said. "They even picked him up one time from his racquetball club in a helicopter."

Mr. Hobday was born in 1914 and raised by two aunts in eastern Kentucky, his family said.

He met his future wife, Elizabeth Price, while she was a student at the University of Chicago, according to brother-in-law James Price. At the time, Mr. Hobday was enlisted in the U.S. Army as an administrative specialist, Price said. The couple married in 1944 and had two daughters, Cynthia Hobday and Priscilla H. England.

"He enjoyed being outdoors quite a bit. He taught me to fish, and also taught me to ride horses from the age of 3," Priscilla England said. "He had a great sense of humor. He was the kind of father who would bring home a puppy and not even tell anybody.

"I think he felt most comfortable when he was with people and he could either discuss politics or just enjoy a dinner with them. I remember (him as) someone who was very humble and didn't have to be."

England said one of her most memorable experiences growing up stemmed from her father's assignment to Panama in 1963, when she was 13 years old. The trip ended when rioting broke out in the Canal Zone and UT cancelled its contract with the University of Panama, she said.

"He wanted to be politically conscious," England said. "I think he was most proud - if you could call it pride - of the PhD in Political Science he earned from Syracuse University, which he went back and earned 20 years after earning his bachelor's degree."

Mr. Hobday retired from MTAS in 1980 after 28 years as executive director. He served as vice chairman of the Knoxville Transportation Authority, chairman of the Knoxville Round Table, and was a member of the 1983 Knoxville Knox County Metro Charter Commission and Citizens for Justice. He was also a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve.

"He loved gardening," Cynthia Hobday said. "He grew the best tomatoes, and we always had the best garden. I'd be sent around the neighborhood to sell what we couldn't eat.

"He also loved tennis, and it was very hard when he had to have his hip replaced and he was forced to give that up. He was 78, and he was very proud that he could play until that time."

The family will receive friends from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. today at Rose Mortuary Mann Heritage Chapel. Burial will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Highland Memorial Cemetery.