William Bryan McFerren

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Obituary- McFerren, William

William B. McFerren
Memorial services were at St. Bernadette’s Catholic Church, Silver Spring, Md., for William Bryan McFerren, 82, Silver Spring, who died Sunday, August 24, 1986, at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring. He had cancer.

Mr. McFerren was born August 3, 1904, at Moonlight, Ks. near Chapman, the son of George W. and Elizabeth Brechbill McFerren.

He graduated from Baker University Baldwin, in 1927.

Mr. McFerren was athletic coach and math teacher at Emmett for six years and principal the last two. He served four years as principal and coach at Fostoria and three years as a math teacher and coach at Partridge in Reno County. When the male teachers of Pottawatomie County organized the Knights of the Hickory Stick in the early ‘30s, Mr. McFerren was elected president. At the beginning of World War II, he trained radio operators for the Army Air Force and served as a flight radio operator for the Air Transport Command and later with the International Division of Trans World Airlines.

Mr. McFerren was a champion golfer, winning many tournaments in the Eastern Kansas Golf Association circuit during the late 1920s and early 1930s. He was club champion many times at Maryland clubs and, next to shooting his age every year since he was 67 years old, and the five holes-in-one he has had, his greatest satisfaction in golf was winning the Maryland State Father-Son championship with each of his three sons – a distinction unmatched in the history of the tournament.

He took a special interest in helping the young golfers develop their games. He maintained an interest in his high school students over the years and had attended the 50-year celebration of the classes he taught at Emmett until this year when illness prevented his coming.

On his 80th birthday in 1984, the Maryland Inter-Club Seniors Golf Association inaugurated an annual tournament in his name. The third annual “Bill McFerren Classic” will be played at the Maryland University Golf Course on September 17.

He was married to Elizabeth Reilly May 26, 1932, at Emmett. She survives.

Other survivors include three daughters, Mrs. Elizabeth Fulton, Las Vegas, Nev., Mrs. Jean Cannefax, North St. Paul, Minn., and Marilyn McFerren, Reston, Va.; three sons, Bill McFerren, Jr., Silver Springs, Md., Jerry McFerren, Phoenix Ariz., and Bob McFerren, Houston, Tex.; two brothers, Phares McFerren, Rancho Bernardo, Calif., and Kenneth McFerren, Austin, Tex.; a sister Mrs. Ruth Cutrell, Chanute; 16 grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

Mr. McFerren’s body was cremated. Private family inurnment was held. Memorial contributions may be made to Holy Cross Hospital Hospice., Silver Spring, Md. Collins Funeral Home of Silver Spring was in charge of arrangements.