William Miles Emmons passed away on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, peacefully at his home. He was 93 years old. He was born on April 7, 1929, the only child of the late Merritt and Amy Harker Emmons. Bill was predeceased less than a year ago by his beloved wife of 70 years, Kathleen Nixon Emmons.

Born and raised on a farm in Pemberton Township in 1929, he attended schools in the Borough of Pemberton from kindergarten through high school. He graduated from Pemberton High School in 1947, where he studied football, basketball and baseball. He married his childhood sweetheart Kathleen in 1950 at Pemberton United Methodist Church, then moved to the borough, where he lived for the rest of his life.

Bill lived a full life, loving his family, his community and his Phillies. Bill was a man known for his practical, down-to-earth approach to life. He was a loving family man. He built his own beautiful home and worked 40 years for NJ Bell in a career specializing in data and digital loop equipment as well as fiber optic networks. He retired in 1991 as a Special Services Supervisor and was a member of the Telephone Pioneers of America.

During his lifetime, Bill was also a dedicated leader in his town, focused on the future of the Borough of Pemberton and its citizens. He was a Freemason and a Rotarian. He served on the Pemberton Borough School Board for 10 years and served on the Borough Council as Council Chairman for over 40 years, from 1974 to 2014. He has always enjoyed the small town atmosphere of the historic district of Pemberton. He worked tirelessly to keep tax rates down, manage growth, maintain a quality local police force and obtain grants to build the municipal building, the fire hall and to line the streets with street lights and flowers, the all at little or no cost to taxpayers.

His early days on the farm in Pemberton Township certainly laid the foundation for his future. At age 10, he and his Shetland pony won first place in the Rotary-sponsored Halloween Parade. A silver dollar was his prize. Billy has been a Rotarian for most of his adult life. As a young boy in the early years of World War II, he and his mother took early morning shifts together on a watchtower near Arney’s Mount equipped with a telephone connection to Fort Dix and McQuire, looking for the enemy in the air. Bill then spent over 40 years working in the telecommunications industry. As a teenager, he used his first paycheck from his job downtown at the American Store to buy a used bike so he could ride back and forth to work on the farm. As a working adult, he used part of every paycheck to buy the materials he needed to build his house.

Bill is survived by his son Barry (Maggi) and daughter Kathy Bernacki (Joe), his grandchildren Brett Emmons (Roshni), Will Emmons (Laura), Ben Bernacki (Janae) and Betsy Emmons, and six great-grandchildren -children.

Visitation will be Friday, June 24, 2022, from 9:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., followed by Masonic and memorial services, at Lankenau Funeral Home, 31 Elizabeth Street in Pemberton.