Obituary of William Francis Kenney

William Francis Kenney - Bill, or depending on the moment, "ole man", "the Hook”, "the Poobah", etc. - of Florham Park, NJ passed away swiftly and peacefully, surrounded by family, his moment of surrender arriving just after 1am on Friday, December 20, 2024. He was 91 years old.

Bill was born September 27, 1933, in Queens (Richmond Hill), NY, the eldest of five children born to Bill and Eva Kenney. He was pre-deceased by brothers Bob (and wife Lucille, survived by children Tim and Chris) and Jerry and survived by sister Virginia ("Ginny") and brother Mark (wife Roseanne, children Caitlin (husband Chris) and Matt (wife Tori)). He maintained connections to the neighborhood "Park Rats" he grew up with in Queens throughout these past years, and attended high school at St. John's Preparatory School, where he excelled as a multi-sport athlete and both scholar and class leader. From there he gained entrance to Yale University, playing baseball as well as studying chemical engineering. He likewise maintained connection to his 1955 graduating class all these years later as well.

Upon matriculation from Yale, Bill attended graduate school at Purdue University in Indiana, where he met his wife Mary (Megna). They were married in April of 1958, right after Easter. Mary unfortunately passed from cancer that same month and Easter time frame in 1992. By that time, after some stops in New York and other locations in New Jersey (and including a 6-month stint based outside of Barcelona), they had become well known in their final hometown of Florham Park for their own activities recreationally and with Holy Family Church, but also because of the large family that became their touchstone. Roll call for their surviving offspring of nine children, 25 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild: Kathy (husband Brad, children Kayla and Grant (wife Shelby, #1 great-grandchild Rowan); Liz (husband Steve, children Moira and Emily); Maria (husband Hoddy, children Hoddy, Dillon, Jake, Samantha, and Sydney); Sharon (husband Gerry, children Avery (wife Carolyn), Peter (wife Sarah), and Renuka); Bill (wife Mary, children Brittany (husband Gene), Scott, and Heather; Peggy (children Emmett, Kevin, and Jesse); Tricia (husband Tom, children Sean and Eva). Matt (wife Holly, children Mary and PJ); and Brian (wife Kelly, children Finn, Owen, and Maeve). And there is also his wonderful companion of the last 20-plus years, Elaine Dwyre.

Clearly, family was always paramount, and Bill maintained a long career primarily with Exxon to support this brood, with all nine children attending college, as education was always a priority to both Bill and Mary. Athletics were also a point of emphasis, and Bill took up basketball officiating early in his adult life, and continued officiating (and adding baseball/softball umpiring) for nearly 50 years. Just as significantly, Bill taught new officials for decades as well, exhibiting the teaching skills that were vital to his overall character. Since he attended so many of his kids and grandchildren's basketball games, former referee students officiating those games, both men and women, regularly came up to him to pay their respects and often cited teaching anecdotes or words of encouragement from him that resonated with them - providing many examples of the innate wisdom he generously shared with all of whom he crossed paths, along with the mutual respect that he fostered.    

The teaching was a fundamental aspect that ranged from coaching sports like tennis and baseball through tutorials in Algebra or Chemistry and into theories on clean energy or where to get good deals on wine, and there was patience and elegance to his instruction that connected. And connection was clearly important to Bill, maintaining ties to your past while "working the problem" of today towards new solutions. That engineering perspective was applied to his life, but with heart instead of cold precision. There was a sense of collaboration even as you were being instructed.

Of course, that patience didn't manifest itself on the golf course, where Bill was somewhat notorious for his colorful descriptions of his most recent sliced shot, and he never was the best at filtering his thoughts in the stands watching this CYO hoops game or that high school soccer game. But loyalty, attendance, participation, all of these active contributions to the lives of those in his family and beyond were core components of his life. He was there for you, for us, and for those who have experienced that support, it will live on through his absence.

Not too long after Mary's death, Bill retired from Exxon and maintained consulting work for a period but turned his main attention to writing both prose and poetry. He had previous writing experience from an academic textbook perspective, along with writing articles for Referee magazine. But this would be a more creative endeavor, and he ultimately self-published a handful of novels and got a poem or two published as well. He quietly attended poetry readings at small bookstores and started reading his own poems at these gatherings, with a group in Scotch Plains being a particular favorite. Writing, managing his finances, being on his condo’s Board, taking in a Bible discussion at Holy Family or a classical music concert with Elaine, and family events from sports to weddings to holidays occupied much of his time these later years, keeping his mind sharp and connections to the world current.

Ultimately, Bill managed to live independently to the end. A lifetime member of the town pool, he recently used swimming as a main exercise given the toll all those years of refereeing had taken on his knees and had a trip to the Morristown YMCA to swim planned for the day of his death. He and Elaine had attended a Christmas concert the week prior and church the next day. He was preparing for the holidays like everyone else and planning how best to parcel out his generosity.

To end using his words, which applied to pretty much every sport he witnessed, but can also apply to life itself: "See the ball!"

Visitation will be at Burroughs, Kohr & Dangler Funeral Home at 106 Main Street, Madison, NJ on Friday, December 27, 2024, from 4:00 - 7:00pm. A Roman Catholic Funeral Mass will be held at Holy Family Church at 1 Llyod Avenue, Florham Park, NJ – Saturday, December 28, 2024, at 10:00am.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Covenant House (www.covenanthouse.org) or Holy Family Church (www.holyfamilyfp.org) in the name of Bill Kenney.