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William A. Honan Jr., husband of Jeanne (Craffey) Honan of Newtown and the former proprietor of the Honan Funeral Home died Saturday, May 2, 2009 at Danbury Hospital.
Mr. Honan was born in Danbury Hospital on November 9, 1923 a son of William A. and Margaret (Hayes) Honan, Sr. A lifelong resident of Main St, Newtown, Bill graduated from Newtown High School, Providence College and The New England Institute of Anatomy and Sanitary Science. He joined the Navy in 1942 and served in the Pacific Theatre as a Pharmacist Mate.
Mr. Honan married the former Jeanne Craffey in Boston, Ma. in 1947. That same year he joined his father in operating the Honan Funeral Home. He also owned and operated a Newtown School Bus (#4) for many years and was a clerk at the Hawleyville Post Office. He became the owner of Honan Funeral Home on the death of his father in 1966. Bill was a lifelong communicant of St. Rose of Lima Church where he served for many years as an usher and assistant sexton of St. Rose Cemetery. He was a life member of Virgilius Council #185 Knights of Columbus.
Active in many civic organizations, Mr. Honan was a Charter Member and Past President of the Newtown Lions Club where he was a Melvin Jones Fellow and a Knight of the Blind. He was a longtime member of the Men’s Literary and Social Club of Newtown Street. From 1960 to 1974 Bill served as a member of the Newtown Park and Recreation Commission and was its Chairman for ten years. He served on the Newtown Board of Finance from 1974 to 1976 and in 1975 was elected to the first Legislative Council. He served on the Council for 6 terms and was the Chairman from 1978 to 1982. Mr. Honan also served on the Town Hall Board of Managers and on the board of the Housatonic Area Regional Transit (HART). He was also a former trustee of the Newtown Savings Bank, served as a driver for Meals on Wheels for twenty years, and was a former member and chairman of the Newtown Democratic Town Committee. He was one of the first volunteer drivers for the Newtown Ambulance Association. Mr. Honan held memberships in both the Connecticut and National Funeral Directors Associations
Despite Mr. Honan’s many volunteer positions, his greatest joy and proudest role was that of husband for over 61 years and father to eight children who survive him: Joan Bohlin of Dennis, MA; Maureen Honan of Torrington, CT; John (Jack) Honan of Newtown; Eleanor Callanan and her husband John of Burdett, NY; Patricia Carey and her husband Thomas of Westport, CT; Daniel Honan and his wife Colleen of Newtown; Rita Crana and her husband Paul of Danbury; and Bridget Loughney and her husband Michael of Hong Kong. He is also survived by eleven grandchildren: Christopher Bohlin; Katie Waters; Shannon Schamel; Neil Callanan; Meaghan Carey; Michael Carey; Brian Carey; Eileen Honan; Patrick Honan; Molly Loughney and Daniel Loughney. He is also survived by three great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his three sisters, Dorothy Fitzsimmons, Marian Espy and his twin, M. Eleanor Honan; and by a son-in-law, Albert J. Bohlin.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in St. Rose of Lima Church Friday May 8, 2009 at 10:30am. Interment will follow in St. Rose Cemetery. Friends may call at the Honan Funeral Home, 58 Main Street, Newtown, Wednesday from 6:00 to 8:00pm and Thursday from 2:00 to 4:00 and 6:00 to 8:00pm.

Contributions may be made to St. Rose of Lima Memorial Fund, 46 Church Hill Road, Newtown, CT 06470 or to a Scholarship in his memory through the Newtown Scholarship Association, P.O. Box 302 Newtown, CT 06470.

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