William (Bill) Hall Manuel, Jr.

William (Bill) Hall Manuel, Jr, age 84, of Lexington, NC passed away Friday, October 5, 2018 at the Hinkle Hospice House.

The family will receive friends from 4pm-6pm on Saturday, October 13, 2018 at Davidson Funeral Home-Hickory Tree Chapel

Bill was born in Stokes County, North Carolina, in 1934 to William H. Manuel, Sr. and Allie Highfill Manuel.
Mr Manuel was an Army veteran and owned and operated his own computer service company before his retirement. He was a scientific man that loved the Cosmos and every aspect of flight. Bill was a builder and a competitor of motorized model airplanes. He was also a former president of the Model Airplane Association (1948-1949) and enjoyed holding the speed record for motorized model airplanes during the 1950’s.  Mr. Manuel was very involved with The Winston-Salem Soap Box Derby, where he contributed his designing and building skills to the development of creating some of the senior soap box derby cars there. He was proud to help design a car that competed in the All American Soapbox Derby, where the car placed 4 ^th in the Akron, Ohio competition. Bill was also involved in The National Derby Rally, where he also helped write their newsletters that were published throughout the US.

Bill could often be found during the seventies and eighties at South Little League of Winston Salem where he enjoyed coaching and being involved with the teams there. He was an avid sports fan of all the ACC teams but, would let you know quickly that Carolina and Duke were his favorites, and loved talking about basketball and science with anyone that would lend an ear to listen.

Bill was preceded in death by his parents; his son, Shane Manuel and brother, James Manuel. Surviving are his wife, Fran Manuel of Lexington; son, William Darwin Manuel of Arizona; step-son, Charles Gurney Hayworth of Nevada; daughter, Paula Denise Manuel, of Lexington; brother, Lawrence Manuel, of Rutherfordton; sisters, Helen McCann, of Winston-Salem, and Alice Gentry of Yadkinville; five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren; step-mother, Mary Nell Manuel and step-sister, Judy White, of Winston-Salem.

In lieu of flowers the family has asked that memorials may be made to The Hinkle Hospice House, 202 Hospice Way, Lexington, NC 27295

Davidson Funeral Home, Hickory Tree Chapel is serving the Manuel Family.