William Francis (Bill) Fay, Age 90, of Billerica MA, passed away after brief illness on Sunday, March 22, 2026. He was the loving and devoted husband of Jeanette L (Rackliffe) Fay, with whom he shared over 50 years of marriage.
Bill was the son of the late Frank Fay and Margaret (O’Connor) Fay. He was born and raised in Brooklyn Heights, New York, where he attended the area of schools. He was an avid Brooklyn Dodgers fan as a young child and told us stories of waiting outside of Ebbets Field to meet some of the legends, like Jackie Robinson, as they left the stadium.
After graduating from Brooklyn Preparatory School in 1953, Bill enlisted in the military where he served in the US Marines. He served for more than 8 years in the reserves where he retired as a Gunnery Sargent. After being honorably discharged from the Marines, Bill began working for the Bell Telephone Companies in New York and then transferred to New England Telephone in the early 1960s where he spent over 40 years working in various capacities, and then retired in 1992 as a respected sales manager at NYNEX, now called Verizon. Shortly after retiring from the phone company, Bill was offered an opportunity to work as a consultant for Verizon in Jakarta, Indonesia, where he used his life-long work experience to assist in the management of installing a fiber optic telecommunications/cable network for 3 years. Jeanette joined Bill on this adventure. Together they used this as an opportunity to embark on an adventure across the world. They had the opportunity to travel all over the South Pacific and enjoyed seeing the many different cultures and sites in places, such as Bali, Indonesia, and many other sites throughout Australia and New Zealand. They made lifelong friends everywhere they went.
When Bill was not working, he enjoyed being a member of the Chelmsford Colonial Minuteman during the bicentennial celebration years of 1970's & 80s, where he was elected Captain. He also serviced as the President of the Newfound Lake Association and was elected multiple terms as president of Stage Crossing Retirement Community of Litchfield, where he resided for over 14 years before moving to Brightview Concord Senior Living of Billerica, MA. He enjoyed spending time boating and fishing on Newfound Lake in Bristol, NH and devoting time exploring the outdoors. Bill was known to all as the ultimate handyman and could fix absolutely anything.
His survivors include his children, Paula Jenkins and her life partner, Patrick, O’Donoghue of Washington, NH, Carrie Fisher and her husband Richard of Cave Creek, AZ, William Fay, JR of AZ, Mark W Smiley and his wife Elizabeth of Shrewsbury, MA, Susan Denisevich and her husband Scott of Tyngsboro, MA . He was a devoted Grandfather to his grandchildren, Jaclyn, Lindsay, Andrew, Allison, Catherine, Grace, Hailey, Alexander, Hannah, Bradford, Kathleen and Alexandra and his great grandchildren, Thatcher, Annika, Ryder, Violette, and Charles.
At his request, the services will be private for his immediate family. Donations may be made in his memory to Brightview Senior Living, 199 Concord Road, Billerica MA 01821.