Obituary of William F.L. Alcock

William Francis Louis Alcock died March 23, after a lifetime of service – to his country, his community, his church, and his family. He was 84.

William was the oldest of seven children, growing up in Brooklyn and Queens. He earned a Bachelor Degree from the City College of New York.  After serving in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam war, he returned to New York City and found employment with the Department of Social Services, where he met Dorothy Walters, whom he would marry in 1972. The two of them would go on to raise four children – Melissa, Liam, Naomi and Cecily – in Travis, where they lived for almost 50 years. He worked for New York State as a court clerk, first in Brooklyn and then at the Supreme Court in St. George, for around 30 years, until his retirement in 2002.

He was happy to count among his colleagues everyone from maintenance staff to court officers to judges. He was an active member of the Gold Star Post of the American Legion, and at one time served as commander, as well as the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which both met at the Travis post headquarters.

He was a devout Catholic, and attended Mass as often as he could, sometimes daily when he was younger. He served as a lector and sacristan at St. Anthony of Padua R.C. Church, Travis, and was responsible for setting up for Mass, unlocking and preparing the church for special occasions, and sometimes he sang in the choir. He was stubborn – and smart. He had a dry sense of humor and was quick with the wit. He loved reading and learning, science fiction, war movies, Irish language and history, amateur (ham) radio, and crossword puzzles.

William was proud of his military service, his Irish heritage, and most of all, his children. He didn’t necessarily say it often — he was a man of few words — but they knew he cared every time he told them “safe home.”

 In addition to his wife and four children, he is survived by two brothers, Phillip and Thomas Alcock, and three sisters, Christina Heslin, Laura Alcock and Margaret Branzetti; four grandsons, Benjamin, Ethan, Fernando and Aaron, as well as numerous nieces and nephews and other relatives. He was predeceased by a sister, Eileen (“L’Eil”) Alcock McDonnell, in 2019.

 Arrangements, which are being handled by Matthew Funeral Home, Willowbrook, include a funeral Mass at St. Anthony of Padua Church on Saturday 3/28 at 10 a.m., and inurnment at Resurrection Cemetery, Pleasant Plains.