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January 22, 2014
Services
Friends may visit with the family from 2-5 PM on Sunday, January 26, 2014 at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne.
Funeral services will be held 10 AM on Monday, January 27, 2014 at the funeral home.
Interment will be in Cedar Lawn Cemetery, Paterson.
William G. Fockler age 90 of Wayne passed peacefully, with the comfort of his three daughters by his side, on Wednesday, January 22, 2014.
He was born in Grantsville, West Virginia and moved to Sistersville, WV as a boy. When in Jr. High he once was sent to the principal’s office by his Geography teacher (his words:) “after setting her straight”(on a fact). He was right, but spent the afternoon in the principal’s cloak room. He graduated as the Valedictorian of Sistersville High School,WV, Class of 1941, where he made many lifelong friends. In Sistersville H.S. he was a leader, newspaper editor, yearbook editor, trombonist and a member of the Thespians, which won regional and state contests. The group attended a national competition at Indiana University, where he came in second on a contest to select a radio announcer for the local radio station. During the Depression he remembered “bums” hopping off the trains in town and “making the rounds of the neighborhood for a handout and (his) Mother was always ready with something.” Upon graduating from high school he headed for West Virginia University as an Engineering major. Soon Pearl Harbor was attacked and the United States entered the war. He had a deferment, in part, because the nation needed trained engineering and technical specialists. His brother, Joe, enlisted, however, and later lost his life in the Pacific Theater just days before Bill graduated from WVU in January, 1945.
He moved to New Jersey and began working at DuMont Labs in instruments and television design. In the summer of 1947 he met Marion Rothwell at a church social, proposed to her on his birthday, Feb. 18, 1948 and were married on September 11, 1948, in Stevens Episcopal Church in Clifton, NJ. Their honeymoon was a tour of New England, and they arrived back home with $50 to their names. They became one of the early members of Packanack Community Church in Wayne, serving on various committees throughout his lifetime. Later Bill worked for ITT in Nutley for over 25 years, developing radar for the Navy. His family grew: three daughters, two son-in-laws, 5 grandchildren and two grandson-in-laws. After retiring in 1985 he enjoyed golfing (hitting a hole-in-one), woodworking, yard work and fixing anything his family brought to him for repair. He volunteered for SCORE(Service Corps of Retired Executives) for many years where he was able to mentor those in business. He will be remembered as a person who could fix anything, who loved computers, was reserved, a man of few words but many altruistic deeds.
He was the loving husband of sixty-six years to Marion (Rothwell) Fockler; loving father of Karen Rowe and her husband Christopher of Berwyn, PA, Kathy Jensen and her husband Michael of Hamilton, and Koreen Fockler of Wayne; cherished grandfather of Amy Rowe, Lindsay Pauley, Jill Jeffers, Kristen Jensen, and Matthew Jensen; loved sister of Mary Evelyn Rogers and her husband Lyle of Charlottesville, VA, and the late Joseph Fockler who passed n the Pacific Theatre of WWII.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations to the Packanack Community Church, 120 Lake Drive East, Wayne, NJ 07470 or West Virginia University, College of Engineering, Morgantown, WV 26506 would be appreciated.
If you would like to send a private condolence directly to the family use this condolence section.
Friends may visit with the family from 2-5 PM on Sunday, January 26, 2014 at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne.
Funeral services will be held 10 AM on Monday, January 27, 2014 at the funeral home.
Interment will be in Cedar Lawn Cemetery, Paterson.
January 22, 2014
Services
Friends may visit with the family from 2-5 PM on Sunday, January 26, 2014 at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne.
Funeral services will be held 10 AM on Monday, January 27, 2014 at the funeral home.
Interment will be in Cedar Lawn Cemetery, Paterson.
William G. Fockler age 90 of Wayne passed peacefully, with the comfort of his three daughters by his side, on Wednesday, January 22, 2014.
He was born in Grantsville, West Virginia and moved to Sistersville, WV as a boy. When in Jr. High he once was sent to the principal’s office by his Geography teacher (his words:) “after setting her straight”(on a fact). He was right, but spent the afternoon in the principal’s cloak room. He graduated as the Valedictorian of Sistersville High School,WV, Class of 1941, where he made many lifelong friends. In Sistersville H.S. he was a leader, newspaper editor, yearbook editor, trombonist and a member of the Thespians, which won regional and state contests. The group attended a national competition at Indiana University, where he came in second on a contest to select a radio announcer for the local radio station. During the Depression he remembered “bums” hopping off the trains in town and “making the rounds of the neighborhood for a handout and (his) Mother was always ready with something.” Upon graduating from high school he headed for West Virginia University as an Engineering major. Soon Pearl Harbor was attacked and the United States entered the war. He had a deferment, in part, because the nation needed trained engineering and technical specialists. His brother, Joe, enlisted, however, and later lost his life in the Pacific Theater just days before Bill graduated from WVU in January, 1945.
He moved to New Jersey and began working at DuMont Labs in instruments and television design. In the summer of 1947 he met Marion Rothwell at a church social, proposed to her on his birthday, Feb. 18, 1948 and were married on September 11, 1948, in Stevens Episcopal Church in Clifton, NJ. Their honeymoon was a tour of New England, and they arrived back home with $50 to their names. They became one of the early members of Packanack Community Church in Wayne, serving on various committees throughout his lifetime. Later Bill worked for ITT in Nutley for over 25 years, developing radar for the Navy. His family grew: three daughters, two son-in-laws, 5 grandchildren and two grandson-in-laws. After retiring in 1985 he enjoyed golfing (hitting a hole-in-one), woodworking, yard work and fixing anything his family brought to him for repair. He volunteered for SCORE(Service Corps of Retired Executives) for many years where he was able to mentor those in business. He will be remembered as a person who could fix anything, who loved computers, was reserved, a man of few words but many altruistic deeds.
He was the loving husband of sixty-six years to Marion (Rothwell) Fockler; loving father of Karen Rowe and her husband Christopher of Berwyn, PA, Kathy Jensen and her husband Michael of Hamilton, and Koreen Fockler of Wayne; cherished grandfather of Amy Rowe, Lindsay Pauley, Jill Jeffers, Kristen Jensen, and Matthew Jensen; loved sister of Mary Evelyn Rogers and her husband Lyle of Charlottesville, VA, and the late Joseph Fockler who passed n the Pacific Theatre of WWII.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations to the Packanack Community Church, 120 Lake Drive East, Wayne, NJ 07470 or West Virginia University, College of Engineering, Morgantown, WV 26506 would be appreciated.
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