William J. McKenna

Berlin – Mr. William J. McKenna, Sr., of Berlin, died Wednesday, September 26, 2012 at University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center in Worcester. He was 83.

Bill was born in Concord on February 8, 1929, a son of the late Edward L. and Irene A. (O'Keefe) McKenna. He was raised in Waltham where he graduated from Waltham High School in 1948 and where he had been a member of the hockey team. After that he served with the United States Army during the Korean War.

Bill married Waltham native Doris M. Norton on August 29, 1954 in Saint Charles Church in Waltham where the couple made their home before moving with their family to Marlborough in 1962. They had also lived in South Yarmouth and in Northborough before moving to Berlin twelve years ago.

Until his retirement Bill worked as an installer and repairman for the New England Telephone Company out of their Marlborough office. He was also a longtime coach and past president of the Marlborough Pony League and a member of the Akroyd-Houde American Legion Post No. 132 in Marlborough. Bill always had a green thumb and enjoyed gardening around the yard and at Raiano Gardens in Marlborough.

In addition to his wife of fifty-eight years, Doris, he leaves his children, Nancy M. Deveau and her husband, William, of Northborough, William J. McKenna, Jr. and his partner, Elaine Wood, of Hudson, Ruthann McKenna of Dennis and Patricia E. Iannone and her husband, Gary, of Easthampton, Connecticut; his grandchildren, Christine Lincoln and her husband, Jon, Laura and Michael Deveau, Christopher Moore and his wife, Veronica, Ian and Evan Moore, William J. McKenna, III and Mary Claire McKenna and Matthew and Alex Iannone; his great-granchildren, Jack Lincoln and Grant Moore; his sisters, Eleanor V. Kavaleski of Waltham, Margaret A. Coen of Marlborough and Dorothy I. Joyce of Waltham and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.

Bill was also the father of the late Jane I. Moore-Easterbrooks and a brother of the late Edward L. McKenna, Jr., M. Ruth Forster and Martha E. Marinoni.

Family and friends will honor and remember Bill's life by gathering for calling hours in the John P. Rowe Funeral Home, 57 Main Street, Marlborough on Sunday, September 30th, from 2 to 5 p.m. and again at 10 a.m. on Monday morning before leaving in procession to Immaculate Conception Church, 11 Prospect Street, Marlborough where his Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Burial will follow in Evergreen Cemetery, Marlborough.