Obituaries

William P Pope Jr (Bill) died peacefully on Wednesday January 18, 2023, at the young age of 80. To know Bill is to love Bill. A longtime resident of Braintree, Bill was the devoted husband of Deborah and the son of the late William P. Sr. (Barney) and Dorothy (Dutra) Pope. He was born in East Boston and attended Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Together Willam and Deborah built a loving family including their children Patricia Peters and her husband Steven, William Pope III and his wife Denise, Brian Pope and his wife Kelly, Tina Hill and her husband Robert, Melissa Roy and her husband Jonathan, and Michael Pope and his wife Sarah; their grandchildren Nicole Hamilton Peters, Scott Peters and his fiancé Sarah, Amanda Peters, Erin DiSalvo and her husband Matt, Brian Pope Jr, Sean Pope, Elisabeth Moran and her husband Robert, Meghan Pope, Alexandra Pope, Thomas Hill, Shannon Hill, Aidan Roy, Lilah Roy, Emme Roy, Stella Pope, Nolan Pope, Hudson Pope, and the late William Patrick Pope IV and Sophia Rose Roy; and their great-grandchildren: Zoey, Jack, Gunner, Ava, Kyrie, Julia, Wyatt, Ivy, Connor, Ja’Kobi,

Wiliam was also the brother to Lorraine M. Emmons of Texarkana, TX and her late husband Charles, John Pope and his wife Rita of Easton, David Pope and his wife Marianne of Easton, and Carol Hughes and her husband Leo of Quincy. He was also loved by many nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, and cousins – especially his Favorite Auntie Ro Ro.
Bill was a member of the American Legion Morrisette Post 294, bowled in the men’s league at Olindy’s for more than 30 years, and served 10 years on the Board of Directors for the Braintree National Youth Baseball. He worked for more than 50 years with the former Newcan Company in Holbrook.

Bill grew up playing Pony League baseball and was an avid Boston sports fan – especially the Bruins. He had a passion for hockey playing into adulthood, teaching his sons to skate, and even earning his signature Burt Reynolds mustache from a hockey puck to the upper lip. He also loved the game of golf and lived by the motto: It’s not about what you score, it’s about who is scoring your card.

He was a jack of all trades, corvette enthusiast, and an engineer at heart. He was the MacGyver of the family; able to fix anything mechanical, electrical, or otherwise. He was always curious how things worked and knew just enough to be dangerous about almost everything.

Bill comes from a long line of great storytellers. Bill, however, was not one of them. His stories were not, in fact, a long story short, but rather a short story long. Regardless, whatever the tale, his family always wound up in stitches, be it the story itself or the roundabout way he got through it.

Most of all, Bill loved Debbie. For more than 50 years, Bill would call her from work every day at 2:20 PM to check in. When they weren’t with family or friends, they enjoyed stealing time together on the waterfront to watch the sailboats or the submarine races. They cared for each other through the toughest times and after 47 years of marriage still looked at one another like newlyweds.

Family and friends are invited to visiting hours on Saturday, January 21st, from 10:00AM-12:00PM and a brief service to follow at the Dennis Sweeney Funeral Home, 74 Elm Street, Quincy Center. Burial to follow at Blue Hill Cemetery, Braintree.

The family requests that if you choose to honor Bill, in lieu of flowers please send a donation in his name to The Home for Little Wanders, 10 Guest St, Boston MA 02135. https://www.thehome.org/ or The Home for Italian Children, 1125 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 https://www.italianhome.org/give/