William “Bill” V. Marrinan, age 76, a forty-three year resident of Wayne, passed suddenly but peacefully, surrounded by his loving family, on Saturday, January 21, 2017.

Bill was born in New Haven, CT and raised in West Haven, CT where he graduated from West Haven High with the Class of 1958.

After high school, he worked as a meter reader for the United Aluminum Company in West Haven before being drafted into the United States Army in 1963. Bill served stateside during the Vietnam War and was in the US Army Reserves before being Honorably Discharged with the rank of Sergeant in 1969. During his service he was awarded the title of Expert in Rifle and earned the Good Conduct Medal.

While serving in the Army, Bill spied a girl from the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) playing softball at Fort Riley in Kansas. He and a friend signed up to drive the WACs softball team to a tournament in Fort Leavenworth where that girl, named Donna Wheeler, was sure to ride. He slowly made his attraction to her known and she simply stated she wasn’t interested. Bill was persistent to the point that he and a friend snuck into the WAC’s barracks, which was a blatant rules violation, and where Donna happened to be the ranking Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO), whose job it was to report such an infraction. Donna directed Bill and his friend to leave immediately and they left without further incident. He saw Donna again at the NCO club on base and she finally gave in to his persistent advances. They met in September of 1964, were engaged to be married by December, and married on July 31, 1965. Bill was discharged from active duty in June of 1965 and settled in Manhattan, Kansas awaiting Donna’s discharge in November.

Bill found work in the shoe department at the local Sears store. Little did he know that this job would lead to a career in the shoe industry spanning forty years. About a year after Donna’s discharge from active duty, the young couple moved back east to Nashua, New Hampshire, to be closer to family, where Bill found work at the JF McElwain Shoe Company as a buyer. He took college classes at the Daniel Webster College in Nashua and in 1973 had the opportunity to work with Meldisco in Hackensack, New Jersey. He took the job and was directed by friends to buy a house in the quiet town of Wayne, New Jersey. Throughout his career he also worked for such companies as Manow International where his office was at the Empire State Building and later on 5th Avenue in New York City. At this point in his career, Bill and Donna’s love and commitment to each other saw them through his six to eight week trips abroad, with very limited communication; as you can imagine, these weeks apart from his family were difficult for a dedicated family man, not to mention the stress on Donna raising their children, while pursuing her degree. In addition, he worked for the Frye Company, and Iron Age Corporation, before retiring in 2007.

He had a passion and love of baseball, both as a player and a dedicated fan of the New York Yankees and the University of Scranton Royals where his grandson Anthony William Simone is currently playing. As a young man, his loving Aunt Anna made him practice one hour of piano a day and that always interfered with his baseball time. He would begrudgingly practice with his baseball mitt perched atop the piano waiting for that hour to pass. His talent led Bill to play semi-pro baseball as a young man and then to play softball in the Army, which positioned him to meet the love of his life. In addition to baseball, he was an avid sports fan, loving all sports and all things Notre Dame. Bill eventually grew to love playing the piano but that love was only realized in his adult years. He was a 3rd degree black belt in Karate as well.

Bill had a deep love for his Catholic faith. He was a dedicated parishioner of Our Lady of the Valley RC Church in Wayne, where he served on the Pre-Cana wedding ministry, as a Eucharistic Minister, a Faith Formation teacher, an usher, and on the funeral ministry. He was also a member of the church’s Knights of Columbus Council 6354 where he was a 4th degree Sir Knight.

As a natural leader, in his retirement, Bill served on the Board of Directors of his townhome community for twelve years.

When remembering the special man Bill was, one can simply remember his huge smile and sense of humor. He was easy to talk to, friendly, uplifting, and positive, laughed easily, and knew people all over the world. To know Bill is to know that he never knew a stranger. His positive attitude was evidenced by his referring to any problem as simply another “challenge” along his life journey.

Most important in Bill’s life was his family, which was his pride and joy. He never missed an opportunity to support them, their teams, and their events. He was the loving husband of fifty-one years to Donna (Wheeler) Marrinan; devoted father of Coleen Bronson and her husband Tom of Cape Coral, FL, the late William V. Marrinan III (1961), Kelley Simone and her husband Anthony of Wayne, and Sean Marrinan and his wife Cindy of Chatham; cherished grandfather (“Pa”) of Anthony William Simone, Anna Simone, Aidan Marrinan, and Eva Marrinan; dear brother of Gary Marrinan and his wife Eleanor of Clinton, CT. He will also be dearly missed by his grand-dog Sirius and has joined his dog Rags and his grand-dog Mollie.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to Eva’s Village, 393 Main Street, Paterson, NJ 07501 would be appreciated.