William Fennell; with wit, he embraced village

In the Western Massachusetts village of Hartsville, William J. Fennell became known as the unofficial mayor for good reason. He earned the sobriquet over 45 years of congeniality and caring for Hartsville's few hundred citizens and the world they inhabited as one of New Marlborough's five villages.

They recalled his goodness of heart as well as his colorful, mis matched wardrobe, flashy bowties, and antics. Most of all, they loved Mr. Fennell for his gift of laughter, often at his own expense. He would go to any length, they knew, to get a laugh and make a point and never minded when colleagues and students referred to him as "Mr. Bowtie" and "Clash Gordon."

"Dad was an eccentric, one of those people you automatically liked," said the oldest of his seven children, Patrick J. of Great Barrington. "He always thought of other people. He was a very giving person who taught us all how to give back."

Mr. Fennell, who taught high school and middle school business and mathematics in Berkshire County for 32 years, died Feb. 21 at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield after suffering an aneurysm. He was 76.

Though he retired from teaching in 1993, tributes poured in from former students who recalled his welcoming classroom and the patience he showed struggling students.

His famous "eating chalk" stories were frequently recalled. Nick Johnson of Great Barrington, who taught with Mr. Fennell for 25 years, said he would chew and swallow a piece of chalk on celebratory occasions, "like when the kids did well on a test. Bill was the kind of teacher you would always remember. His motto to the kids was 'Work smarter, not harder.' He had a heart of gold."

He cared deeply for Hartsville. Miladeen Wyman, his neighbor for 40 years, said he could often be seen sweeping the bridge that spans the Konkapot River abutting his home. He made flower boxes for its stonework railing and planted them with flowers he had grown.

Drivers speeding across the two-lane bridge, daring to exceed its 30-mile-per-hour speed limit, faced the wrath of Mr. Fennell, who would shake his broom at them.

Mr. Fennell also kept an eye on erosion along the Konkapot. He was a member of the New Marlborough Conservation Commission and compiled a photographic record of its progress.

All who knew him had their own Bill Fennell stories.

"Bill was a character," said Jean Johnson of Great Barrington, recalling the time he bought his wife a goat for her birthday. "The goat destroyed everything, and finally when it ate the windshield wipers of the car, Millie made him take it back."

The Fennells had seven children , Johnson said, but "never failed to take a Fresh Air Child from New York every summer."

Mr. Fennell was born in Cambridge, the youngest of six children of Patrick Joseph and Margaret (Sheehan) Fennell, who had emigrated from Ireland.

After graduating from Cambridge High and Latin in 1948, Mr. Fennell was attending Boston College when he was called up for Army duty during the Korean War.

After he left the service, he worked in Paddy's Lunch in North Cambridge -- still owned by a family member -- and enrolled in Boston University, graduating in 1961. That same year, he began teaching business courses at Mt. Everett Regional High School in Sheffield.

While teaching, Mr. Fennell earned a master's degree in a correspondence course at the University of Illinois, spending part of one summer there, said his daughter, Joan Stillman of New Marlborough.

He remained at Mt. Everett until 1967, when he began teaching math at Searles Middle School in Great Barrington, where fellow teacher James Armstrong met him.

"Bill would do anything to have a student achieve, " Armstrong said.

Mr. Fennell's wardrobe might have been flamboyant, he said, but "he believed that teachers should dress professionally, not, for instance, in golf attire, and he always wore a dress shirt, tie, and jacket -- even though they were always mismatched," Armstrong said.

David Kinne of Great Barrington, another Searles colleague, recalled how Mr. Fennell "prodded his kids to do better, even singing to them," and his patience with those struggling with math, "getting them to actually liking it."

Mr. Fennell's dedication to young people shaped the lives of his own children, too.

"Everything with him was an adventure, even a road trip," his daughter said. "Just recently he was pointing out the stars in the heavens to me. He never stopped being a teacher."

After Mr. Fennell retired from teaching in 1993, "he got tired of puttering around," his son said. For the past six years, wearing one of his 75 bowties, he worked part time as a greeter and jack-of-all-trades at Barrington Brewery and Restaurant in Great Barrington.

"Everybody loved Bill," said Gary Happ, one of the restaurant's owners. "He always had a story to tell."

He was described by all who knew him as "a true gentleman," Happ said.

In addition to his son and his daughter, Mr. Fennell leaves two other sons, William J. of Acton and Stephen G. of Niantic, Conn. ; three other daughters, Mary H. Iandoli of Bedford, Carol A. Stec of Braintree, and Alice M. Naylor of Sheffield; and 12 grandchildren.

Services have been held.

At his wake, his daughter said, Mr. Fennell's family dressed him "in one of his crazy plaid jackets and a bowtie."

"That was the way he would have wanted it," she said.