William L. "Bill" Janney

Mr. William L. Janney (“Bill”), 88 years of age, was born in Oil Hill, Kansas in 1931 and died in Mansfield,
Texas on April 27, 2020.
Service: Graveside at Skyvue Memorial Gardens May 6, 2020. Reverend Mike Ramsdell will officiate. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Alzheimer’s Association would be appreciated.
He leaves behind his wife of 62 years, JoAnn Lydick Janney and two daughters,
Kymberlyn Janney Adams and husband Frederick S. Adams, Jr. and Lea Lynn Coffman and husband Henry
Coffman; three granddaughters, Lauryn Johnson and husband Derek Johnson, Lindsey Snyder and
husband Jarrod Snyder and Dr. Bethany Spain and husband Brandon Spain; and one great-grandson, James "Wyatt" Johnson.
Mr. Janney served in the U.S. Army as a Military Policeman and was ranked first in his officers’ class in
the Korean Conflict. He then attended Kansas State University where he met his soulmate and love of his
life, JoAnn; they were married in Old Mission Methodist Church, Fairway, KS on May 31, 1958. Bill
graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and had a successful career as a practicing Petroleum and Chemical Engineer for most of his life. At the beginning of his career, Bill was employed by Cities Service Oil Company, managing oil wells in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado. Over the next 30 years, he served Hercules Inc., building and/or plant-managing poly-propylene plants in Salt Lake City, UT, Lake Charles, LA, Wilmington, DE, Clear Lake City, TX and Parlin, NJ. In a second move to Salt Lake City, UT, he built and managed a solid rocket-fuel plant for the Polaris. His final position was as Manager of Engineering and Construction for Himont, a subsidiary of Hercules Inc. in Houston, Texas. This position took him to Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, Belgium and then Milano, Italy for one year.
The Janneys retired to Bill’s dream farm on 64 acres outside of Tyler, Texas, where he planted large
vegetable and rose gardens and a peach and apple orchard. He loved canning what he had grown in his
workshop kitchen. Known to his granddaughters as Silly Billy and Papa Bill, he loved spending time with
them, fishing and riding his paddle boat in his pond and racing around the farm on the go cart. Bill also
belonged to a woodworking club, donated his time maintaining the First Presbyterian Church camp and
donated the maximum amount of blood to Stewart Blood Center in Tyler, Texas. Bill and JoAnn’s final
move was to Mansfield, Texas, where they joined the First United Methodist Church.
Honorary Pallbearers: Brother-in-Law Larry N. Lydick and lifelong friends Dr. Robert Welborn and David
Wright. Pallbearers: Mike Asato, Nick Gilliland, Mike Licatovich, Jan Porter, Henry Coffman and Fred Adams.