William H. Boswell, 83, a retired Coast Guard captain, World War II veteran and sixth-generation Washingtonian, died June 29,
2005 of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease at his home in Plano, Tex. A longtime resident of the District, he moved to Texas in 2002 to
be closer to family.
He retired from the Coast Guard in 1967 and joined the newly created Department of Transportation, where he served as the
associate administrator of the department's Urban Mass Transit Administration. He retired a second time in 1980.
Capt. Boswell grew up in the Capitol Hill house the Boswell family had occupied since 1860. He graduated from Eastern High
School in 1939 and received a bachelor's degree in engineering in 1944 from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, where he was
captain of the boxing team. He also attended Harvard University in 1958, where he worked toward a master's degree in
business administration.
During World War II, he saw transport duty in the South Pacific. From 1945 to 1948, he was involved with military intelligence and
criminal investigation in the Philippines. Capt. Boswell, a gunnery officer, was an instructor from 1948 to 1951 in the Ordnance
School at the Coast Guard Academy. From 1951 to 1954, he served aboard the Coast Guard cutter Campbell and also carried
out search-and-rescue missions while serving as captain of the port in Portland, Maine.
Early in the second Eisenhower administration, he was assigned to Coast Guard headquarters as a military attache. From 1958
to 1963, he was on assignment in Boston, Cleveland, Seattle and Long Beach, Calif., returning to Washington in 1963 as chief
of budget and cost analysis at Coast Guard headquarters.
In retirement, he collected antiques and worked in the family antique business with his uncles, C.T. "Brother" Boswell and H.
Curley Boswell, who were authorities on the restoration of Capitol Hill homes. He also restored the family's home on Capitol Hill.
Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Myra Boswell of Plano; three sons, Jeffrey Boswell of Plano, William Boswell of Pittsburgh
and Matthew Boswell of Milwaukee; and two grandchildren.