Samuel Guise, 68, welder and draftsman

Samuel Guise inherited from his father, George, a career as a boilermakers' union welder, working at refineries in the Philadelphia area.

But when an accident on the job knocked him for a loop, he went back to school, completed his high school education, and earned a community college degree in computer-aided design and drafting.

And with that, in his 40s, he went to work as a draftsman for Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

"He excelled with blueprints of their offices, new heating and duct work," his daughter, Marian Steeves, said in a phone interview.

On Saturday, March 29, Mr. Guise, 68, of Sicklerville, died at Virtua Berlin Hospital after a heart attack.

He grew up in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia and dropped out of Jules E. Mastbaum High School to fight as an Army infantryman during the Vietnam conflict, his daughter said.

After completing his military service in the late 1960s, he became a member of Local Lodge 13 of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, now in Newportville, Pa.

"He worked at the shipyard in Philly," as well as at refineries, she said.

But after he was hit by a forklift while on the job, he used a GED diploma to earn his associate's degree at the Community College of Philadelphia.

And from 1996 to 2006, his daughter said, he was an architectural draftsman at Jefferson.

"He loved to draw," she said. "He was very artistic."

But boilermaking was in his genes.

So after retiring from Jefferson, the Boilermakers local asked him to return and supervise some of its members' job sites. "He retired from boilermaking five years ago," she said.

Besides his daughter, Mr. Guise is survived by his wife of 44 years, Marlene, son Patrick, two brothers, five sisters, and three grandchildren.

A visitation was set for 10 a.m. Thursday, April 3, at the Adams Funeral Home, 64 Broad St., Woodstown, before a noon funeral, with private interment.

Donations may be sent to www.diabetes.org.

Condolences may be offered to the family at www.adamsfuneralhome.org.

610-313-8134 @WNaedele