William “Bill” O. Jahn, Jr., 89, of Kingwood, TX, passed away peacefully the morning of May 9th, 2020. Bill was born in Brockton, MA on February 15th, 1931 and grew up in East Bridgewater, MA. Bill graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, receiving a degree in Agri-culture and was a proud member of Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity. After graduating, he joined the United States Air Force in July of 1952, serving his country at Eglin Air Force Base in West-ern Florida.
Bill met Mary Judith “MJ” Baird while performing in a production of “Brigadoon” at UMass. The two were married on July 9th, 1955 and had two sons, Paul and David. They were married for almost 53 years.
After serving at Eglin, he took over the family carnation business in East Bridgewater, MA. His devotion to helping others began when he gave up the family business and became an instructor at Norfolk County Agricultural High School in Walpole, MA. In 1967, he accepted the position of Director at the DuPage Horticultural School in West Chicago, IL, and the family moved to St. Charles, IL. Sharing his passion and experience in greenhouse operations and management, he aided numerous youths in starting or improving their own greenhouse operations. In his spare time, he went on to earn a Master’s Degree in 1981 from the University of Illinois, participating in the same graduation ceremony that year as son Paul. After leaving the Horticultural School, he worked in the St. Charles Assessor’s Office and after years of service, was encouraged to run for County Assessor. He knew better and avoided that headache.
Bill was an active member of Baker United Methodist Church in St. Charles. He served on vari-ous committees, but his favorite ministry was singing in the choir, where he and MJ performed numerous solos and duets together. Bill also enjoyed making wreaths, creating flower arrange-ments, and was known for positioning hundreds of poinsettias and lilies for Christmas and Easter at the church. He was an all-around handyman and could fix and do most everything. Bill con-structed numerous clocks from clock kits; a tedious task for someone who began losing his sight to glaucoma. After losing most of his sight, he continued to work, clean, cook, and received rave reviews from a clock repairman who claimed he’d never seen better craftsmanship on that particular clock. Neither had Bill….literally. He tinkered and sang until the end.
After retiring in 1996, Bill and MJ moved to Beverly Hills, FL, where they continued their ministry of music at the First United Methodist Church in Homosassa, FL. He attended Southeastern Guide Dog School and arrived home with his faithful service dog, Guidy. They lovingly worked together for 9 years until Guidy’s retirement. After MJ’s passing in April of 2008, Bill and Guidy moved to Kingwood, TX to be close to family.
Bill is survived and deeply missed by his children, Paul and David, his daughter-in-law Mickey, grandchildren Suzette, Bradley and Daniella, grandson-in-law Jerrad and great grandchildren Cash and Mila. Bill, MJ and Guidy will rest together at First United Methodist Church in Homo-sassa, FL.
A memorial service is planned for a future date. In lieu of flowers, a donation to Southeastern Guide Dogs, Inc. would be greatly appreciated. 4210 77th Street East, Palmetto, FL 34221
To leave an online condolence to the family, please visit our website at www.kingwoodfuneralhome.com
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