William Boone Jr., 82, postal worker

William A. Boone Jr., 82, of Chesilhurst, a retired U.S. Postal Service employee who was a dedicated family man and church volunteer, died Tuesday, Dec. 30, of congestive heart failure.

After a routine morning that included a piping-hot cup of coffee brewed just the way he like it, breakfast, and a round of his favorite card games on the computer, Mr. Boone died quietly at the Erial home of his daughter, Minretta B. McFadden.

"He kept saying, 'I'm looking for that ace,' " his daughter said with a laugh.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Mr. Boone graduated from Ben Franklin High School. He served in the U.S. Army, mostly in France, from 1953 to 1955.

In 1953, he married Marjorie Peake, the sweet girl from across the street. They had four children – three daughters and a son. The couple decided in the early 1960s to move their family out of North Philadelphia and to the "wilds" of Chesilhurst in South Jersey.

They built a house in Chesilhurst with their own hands, said McFadden, a retired school librarian. The builder who put up the frame went out of business, so the couple finished the work. "My father - with my mother right by his side - built the home," she said.

Mr. Boone worked at the 30th Street Post Office for 35 years and held down a second job driving a truck for a private company to provide for his family. He retired in 1995.

Mr. Boone and his wife were active with the outreach ministry at Open Bible Baptist Church in Williamstown and visited patients at local nursing homes, where Mr. Boone would give sermons. He also served as the church shepherd's pastor, tending to the mentally and physically disabled in the community.

After his of wife of 54 years died tragically in a car accident in 2007, Mr. Boone lived briefly with his daughter McFadden. She shared their story in a 2008 Inquirer Father's Day story.

Mr. Boone and his daughter walked a delicate emotional tightrope as the family mourned the loss of its matriarch. Eventually, he decided to return to the home in Chesilhurst, and his life largely included spending time with church friends and his large extended family.

"All I wanted to do was protect my father just as he'd always protected me," McFadden said in the interview. "I wanted to shield him from his pain, even though I knew deep down that I couldn't."

Mr. Boone is also survived by daughters Gwendolyn Renee Bussey and Deborah Bullard; son William Boone III; seven grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; and a host of relatives and friends.

The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 6, at Open Bible Baptist Church, 1073 New Brooklyn Rd., Williamstown. Friends may call from 9 a.m. Burial will be in the Brig. Gen. William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Wrightstown.