William F. Hooten

William Foster Hooten, Jr., age 88, of Johns Creek, Georgia, died Oct. 2, 2014. He was born in St. Louis, MO, on August 13, 1926 to William Foster and Ida Willis Hooten. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1944 until 1946, then attended the University of Missouri. Bill served as president of Sigma Nu Fraternity and graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism degree. He took Advanced ROTC at the university so was called into the U.S. Army as a Lieutenant in the Korean War. Since he served in two branches of service, the Fresh Faith class at the North Atlanta Church of Christ called him an overachiever!

Bill met Joanne (Jan) Jeans, the “love of his life,” at MU and they were married in 1949. The first seven years of their marriage they lived in seven states and had three precious children: Bill III of Santa Barbara, CA; Marcy Godfrey of Johns Creek; and Suzy Brownlee of Northville, MI. His two sons- in -law, Randy Godfrey and Bruce Brownlee, are very dear to him as are his nine grandchildren: Scott Godfrey, Jessica Rawlings, Meredith Courtney, Sara Shipps, Whitney Merritt, Bryan Brownlee, Tiara Hooten, Ryan Hooten and Michael Hooten. Bill and Jan have four great grandchildren with two more on the way. They were blessed with 65 years of marriage, celebrating that anniversary on August 1.

Bill spent his life serving the Lord he loved. He taught Bible classes and served as an elder in four churches including the North Atlanta Church of Christ. He took joy in serving in the Anchor Ministry, reaching out to recovering addicts. He was a Trustee of Abilene Christian University for 29 years.

His career in the hardware-automotive retail and wholesale industry spanned 40 years. He went from a copy writer to corporate vice-president and director of Western Auto Supply Company. Then he became president of Liberty Distributors in Chicago and was instrumental in the merger of Liberty and Sentry Hardware Corporation. The new company was called Distribution America and he served as president until his retirement in 1992.

During his Chicago years he received two significant honors: he was the keynote speaker at the National Hardware Show in 1989 and in 1991 was awarded the Luekens Leadership award, the highest leadership recognition for a distributor or manufacturer in the hardware industry. He was also selected for Who’s Who in the Midwest.

After retirement, Bill served on numerous assignments with the International Executive Service Corps. He and Jan went to four developing countries a number of times where he was an advisor to retail companies and had a chance to encourage missionary families. These assignments brought Bill and Jan special pleasure since they always loved to travel and had made a number of trips to foreign countries and one mission trip to Guyana.

Bill had his life priorities in this order: the Lord first, family next, friends and then his work and the activities of daily living. He and Jan enjoyed a long and loving relationship and plan to meet one another soon in Heaven.

In lieu of flowers, a contribution can be made to the “Jan and Bill Hooten Biblical Studies Endowed Scholarship,” Abilene Christian University, ACU Box 29130, Abilene, Texas 79699. Please mark contribution for the scholarship.