William S. “Bill” Farley passed away on June 27, 2022. Born in Cordova, Tennessee on September 28, 1930, within two years his father died unexpectedly, leaving his mother to raise two small children while running a farm and mercantile store in the midst of the Great Depression. At Germantown High School he met the love of his life, Nancy Virginia Jones. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he was member of Delta Sigma Pi and Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternities.
Bill and Nancy married in 1951, and soon thereafter as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force he went to Japan in support of the Korean War. Upon his discharge he began a lengthy career with Sears, Roebuck & Co. in various management assignments in Texas, Nebraska, and Colorado, and was certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources from the Personnel Accreditation Institute. He later worked as a part-time field representative for the U.S. Census Bureau for more than ten years.
An amateur genealogist, he researched and published an extensive history of his ancestry, Vanocaten, reaching back over five centuries. He and Nancy shared a deep and lifelong love of jazz, blues, and swing music, attending countless concerts and events over the years. Seeking to instill a like appreciation in his children and grandchildren, Bill was legendary for his wedding toasts praising various aspects of the occasion while lamenting the absence of Ella Fitzgerald and a tenor sax quartet. He had a keen sense of humor and graciously received people from all walks of life. A world traveler, he cherished the personal freedom that our constitutional form of government ensures, and to that end pursued an energetic and abiding interest in politics.
Bill’s beloved wife, Nancy, passed away in 2019 after nearly 68 years of marriage. He is survived by four children: William S. “Bill” Farley Jr., Paul (Leslie) Farley, Jean (Jerry) Tracy, Ann (Jim) Vrchota; eight grandchildren: Charlene (Oscar) Chacon, Christina (Seth) Spanier, Monk Philaret (in the world, William S. IV) Farley, Peter Farley, Virginia Farley, Courtney Montgomery, Reid Tracy, Spencer Hayward; and four great-grandchildren: Dylan Spanier, Ryan Spanier, Elora Montgomery, and Maximiliano Chacon.
Visitation will be on Tuesday, July 5 from 6:30-8:00 p.m. at Campanella & Stewart Funeral Home in Wamego. The funeral will take place on Wednesday, July 6 at 9:00 a.m. with interment to follow with military honors at the Kansas Veterans Cemetery at Fort Riley. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation in Pacific Palisades, California.