William Henry O'Donnell, Jr

William Henry O'Donnell, Jr. was born on January 20, 1951 to William Henry, Sr., and Edith K. O'Donnell, who were living in the Wollaston neighborhood of Quincy, MA. Unbeknownst to Bill, his future wife Anne was born 9 months later into a family living just 8 houses down the street.
God had His hand on Bill from the beginning. His life was spared at birth when the doctor recognized the signs that his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, and took him by emergency Caesarian Section (very rare at the time). When he was 11 years old, he came down with symptoms of leukemia, and his parents were told to expect his death. But after a week in the hospital, the doctors realized it was not leukemia after all, and he recovered with no apparent aftereffects. When he was 21, he contracted severe food poisoning and was very ill for 2 weeks before the doctor was able to diagnose it. He really thought he was going to die. We suspect there were many other times God saved him, that he was never even aware of.
What was most important to Bill throughout his life was his relationship with God, whom he desired to know from his first encounter with church at age 3. He grew up in a Roman Catholic home and was devout in his younger years, as he tried every avenue the church offered to know God. On the first day of his senior year in high school he (re-)met Anne, who had grown up in a Protestant Christian home, and was introduced to a different way of approaching God. He learned what it means to be born again, and he eventually asked God to come into His heart and rule there. He never doubted his faith again and always tried to do what was most honoring to God.
Bill knew from his early '20s that his special spiritual gift was service, and from then on he took great joy in looking for opportunities to serve others. Everyone who knew him saw this. Although he was repeatedly warned not to burn himself out, he never stopped serving and never got burned out - because he understood that it was God's calling on him and God gave him the strength for it.
A wonderful opportunity to serve in a different way came when he and Anne were invited to move to the Czech Republic as missionaries. They went when they were 55 and lived there 10 years, and experienced many miracles of God's provision. Bill loved the friends they made there, and the students he taught, and the country as a whole - despite the fact that in his 10 years of Czech language lessons, his Czech teacher learned more English than Bill learned Czech. He remembered and prayed for his Czech friends until he died.
When they returned from the Czech Republic, Bill and Anne joined the Winston-Salem First Seventh-day Adventist Church, and Bill gained a whole new venue in which to serve and live his faith.
Bill and Anne had 3 children and 3 grandchildren, and each child, their spouses, and their children were deeply loved by Bill and every phone call and visit brought joy to his heart.
Bill was preceded in death by his parents and sister Kathleen. He is survived by his brothers, Paul and Michael, wife Anne, sons William H., III (Angel), Joshua (Laura), and daughter Liz (Tibor) Nemeth, along with grandchildren Grace Nemeth, Tibor Nemeth IV, and Everleigh Mae O'Donnell.
Donations can be made to Trellis Supportive Care. https://www.trellissupport.org/donate