Dr. William Evan Warren (Bill) of Lincoln passed away on January 22, 2022 at the age of 79. He is survived by Joanne of Lincoln, his beloved wife of 57 years; his daughter Karen and her husband Robert Massey of Milton; his son Kevin, his wife Jenifer and their sons Finn and Connor of Oxford, PA; and his son Adam, his wife Angeline, and their daughter Lily of Portland, Oregon. He was preceded in death by his parents William and Emily, and his brother Jack.
Bill was born in Milford, DE in 1942. He attended Milford High School where he lettered in football, baseball, and track and graduated in 1960. He was the first of his family to attend college and received a Bachelors in English from the University of Delaware. He went on to receive a Master’s degree from the University of Virginia and a PhD in English Literature from the Ohio State University in 1973.
He moved back to Milford with Joanne and their young family where he took a job teaching high school English at Lake Forest High School from 1973 through 1982. He then taught the “gifted and talented” classes at Milford Middle School from 1982 through 2000. His students participated in Odyssey of the Mind competitions and performed Shakespeare at the Folger Shakespeare Library. After retiring from public schools, he taught English for Academic Challenge courses at the University of Delaware Georgetown campus and for Wilmington College. “Doc” was known for the dedication he showed to his students, his enthusiasm for the material, and the creative freedom he encouraged in his classroom.
He was on the Milford School Board from 1977-82; the State Board for the Delaware Association for the Gifted from 1986-95; the State Board for Odyssey of the Mind from 1985-95. He also served on the board of the Lincoln Community Center, which his father had helped build, and was active in the Read Aloud program.
Outside of his family and teaching, his great passion was books. Bill was incredibly well-read and a voracious consumer of books who wished for ever more time and mental acuity to read. He also acted in several plays at Milford’s Second Street Theater in the 1980s and 90s, including Our Town, The Miracle Worker, Arsenic and Old Lace, Harvey and directed several children’s plays. He also enjoyed bird watching, fishing, and tending his roses.
For birthdays and special occasions, he enjoyed writing original poems that were always playful and sometimes a little raunchy. Holiday cards to his grandchildren usually included a short original poem, something they treasured. He wrote several short stories for his children that featured the characters Jack and Susanne and always included a detailed accounting of the food they packed on their adventures.
A Celebration of Life for Dr. Bill Warren will be held on March 26, 2022 at 2 pm in the afternoon at the Lincoln Community Center, Lincoln, DE.
The family has decided to work with the Milford Rotary Club Educational Foundation to create a scholarship in Bill's honor. The Rotary Club will receive the funds and administer the scholarship. We hope to support students that will pursue a career in education, with a preference for someone with financial need.
Please consider joining us in endowing the William Warren Memorial Scholarship. It's set up in GoFundMe at https://gofund.me/7f05f1f3, so you can help out with just a few clicks. Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to the family. You can also help by sharing the GoFundMe link with your network.
Contributions can also be made by check to Milford Rotary Club Educational Foundation, P.O. Box 10, Milford, DE 19963. Please put Dr. Warren's name on the memo line.
Arrangements by Lofland Funeral Home, Milford. Letters of condolence may be shared at www.loflandandmcknatt.com.
To send flowers
to the family or plant a tree
in memory of Dr. William Evan Warren, please visit our floral store.