William Orien Fenner II
Published 5:03 pm Tuesday, June 4, 2013
William Orien Fenner II, age 80, died on 28 May 2013, at his home in Tryon. A graduate of North Carolina State University and the University of Pennsylvania, Bill Fenner served in the US Navy and US Air Force before becoming a high school and post-secondary physics and earth science teacher. He taught one year at Fernandina Beach High School and then had a long career at Lakeview High School, in Winter Garden, Florida. Mr. Fenner’s dedication to scientific knowledge led him to further research in applied physics at Yale University, Bemidji State (Minnesota) and Rensselaer Poytechnic Institute (New York). After retiring, he returned to his boyhood hometown of Tryon, where he enjoyed gardening, listening to classical music, and square dancing.
Mr. Fenner was proceeded in death by his parents, Percy and Isabella Fenner, and his sister, Lorraine Owens. He is survived by his children: Kathleen Fenner Laird, of Arlington, VA; William Orien Fenner III, of Orlando, FL; Kenneth Lawrence Fenner, of Tryon, NC; and Shirley Fenner Black, of Denver, CO. He is also survived by grandchildren Elisabeth Ann Laird, Ashley Lexis Fenner, Ian Russell Fenner, and Gabriella Vera-Ann Black, as well as his former wives, Ann Fenner Spiegel and Betty Denton Fenner, and brother, Donald Lawrence Fenner, of Colorado Springs, CO.