William “Bill” Walden Mumford, Jr., 88, of Manchester, CT passed away Wednesday morning, April 29th at Crestfield Rehabilitation Center in Manchester, CT. Bill was a brother, an uncle, a father of eight, a grandfather of 23, a great-grandfather of five, and friend to many more.
He leaves his son William, his partner Trish King and his sons Nathaniel, Lee and Brian and his sons Joshua and Daniel; his son Charles; his son Robert and his wife Maureen Shaw and the Shaw-Mumford children Fiona, Kate, Evan and his wife Jennifer and Trevor and his wife Kathryn Baker; his son Thomas and his wife Anna and their children Jakob, Elijah and Sonja, and his daughter Tara, her partner Jason Lohman and their daughter Fiona, and his son Aaron, his wife Jackie, and their children Abigail and Wyatt; his son Michael and his daughter Jaclyn and her husband Mitchell Forney; his son John, his wife Karen Wilkinson, and his children Derek and his wife Christie, Lindsay and Jeremy; his daughter Carol Bagshaw and her children Ian and Kyra Beattie; and his daughter Nancy Bakos and her children Nicholas, Jeff, Madison and Ryan. Bill also leaves his sister Joan, her children and their families.
Bill is predeceased by his parents William and Elizabeth (Douglass) Mumford, Sr., his first wife and mother of their children, Mary (Schilling) Mumford, his second wife, Nancy Graulich, his granddaughter Brittany Mumford, his great- granddaughters Abbie and Bethany Mumford, and his son-in-law's Russell Bagshaw and Lloyd Sturtz.
Bill was born on July 8, 1931, in Middletown Township, New Jersey. He graduated from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, in 1952, and married Mary E. Schilling on September 26, 1953, at St. James Church in Red Bank, New Jersey. Bill worked for Proctor and Gamble and then for the Monsanto Company in their Plastics Research business. Bill was a well-respected Engineer and Research Manager in the plastics field. He was awarded several patents and company awards. They moved several times between Ohio and Massachusetts, then to New Jersey and finally to Manchester, Connecticut in 1971. All eight of their children graduated from Manchester High School. Outside of work, he loved sports, playing football at Lehigh, and softball in various leagues as a young man. He also enjoyed golf, playing bridge and saltwater fishing. He owned a boat in New Jersey and in Connecticut, and taught the joy of catching bluefish to his children. He became a Patriot and Red Sox fan after moving to Connecticut, and watched them at every opportunity. He married Nancy (Dye) Redden Graulich on February 27, 2005.
Health issues forced Bill to move to Crestfield Rehabilitation Center in November 2018. His thanks and the thanks of his family go to all who cared for him there.
There will not be calling hours at this time. The Holmes Watkins Funeral Home, in Manchester, CT, is handling local arrangements. He will be buried with wife Nancy at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts. Burial arrangements will be made by the family at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations are made to the 2020 Tour de Force charity bike ride for Fallen Law Enforcement Officers. The Tour de Force Memorial Ride participants raise funds for the families of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. Donations can be made online at https://grouprev.com/2020_TDF-carol-bagshaw, or you can send a check, made out to “TDF NY” with “Carol Bagshaw” in the memo line, to Carol Bagshaw, 10 Dutton Road, Colchester, CT 06415.
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