William C. Jennings

William C. (Bill) Jennings of Rose City, MI, formerly of Martinsburg, WV, passed away on May 12, 2014. He was the husband of Catherine Teeples Jennings for fifty years. Born March 1, 1934 in Rhodes, MI to George and Genevieve Jennings Fox, he was the stepson of Sidney Fox. He retired from General Motors after having worked for the company for thirty years. He worked at GM in Martinsburg, WV from 1969 to 1999. During his time in Martinsburg, he was an active member of his community. He participated in annual fundraising for Jerry’s Kids/Muscular Dystrophy Association, was a member of UAW local 1590 and first editor of the UAW newspaper (Together We Stand), volunteered at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and supported his children through involvement in Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, PTA, swim team, soccer teams and countless school and civic activities. He was an awarded blood donor with the American Red Cross. He enjoyed riding his motorcycle and snowmobile and spent many weekends on a pit crew at Summit Point Raceway. Having enlisted in the United States Army in 1951, he completed his basic training in Hawaii before attending leadership school in Kentucky. He then went to Japan for more than a year before being deployed to serve in the Korean War. While in the Army, he was awarded the Occupation of Japan medal, the Korean Service medal, the National Defense medal and the United Nations service medal with one Bronze Star. He was most proud of the Presidential Unit Citation that was awarded to the 24th Infantry Division, 34th Regiment for its outstanding record of service during the Korean Conflict. He was a member of the VFW Post 5468 since 1957, American Legion Post 103, Ogemaw County Veterans Alliance and Ogemaw County Veterans’ Museum. Having lifetime memberships in both the American Legion and VFW, he was most recently named as Ogemaw County Veteran of the Year 2013 by the Veterans Alliance. As he often said, Bill “lived a very full life and most of it was good.” He is survived by his loving wife of fifty years, Catherine, his daughter Haley Kern and husband Rick of Martinsburg, WV, sons William Jennings and wife Rose of Martinsburg, WV and Robert Jennings and wife, Tara of Rose City, MI, grandchildren, Allison Kern and Rebecca Kern, Robert Jennings and Evelyn Jennings. In addition, he leaves behind a very close group of Veteran friends whom he considered family.