Online Archives

The Rev. William Robert "Bill" Hannen, 93, of Weirton, W. Va., died from renal failure May 23, 2011, in Trinity East Hospital in Steubenville, Ohio. A funeral was held May 27 at Colliers UMC in Colliers, W. Va., with the Rev. Thomas Deane officiating. Grave side military rites were conducted by the Ohio Valley Veterans Memorial Squad at the Chapel Hill Cemetery in Weirton.

Hannen was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II, and a POW who was captured in Normandy in the D-Day invasion. He was held for almost a year, released in May, 1945, and married Erdella Daughtery a month later.

He was employed by the Weirton Steel Corporation as a crane man.

Hannen was 36 years old when he felt his call to ministry while active in his local church. He attended West Liberty (W. Va.) College, then entered the first class at Wesley Theological Seminary when it moved to Washington, D.C. He was ordained an Elder in 1961.

He began his ministerial service in 1959 in Western Pennsylvania Conference and in 1963, came to the Baltimore-Washington Conference and was appointed to Parkton. He withdrew in 1966 for two years, and in 1968 was readmitted and appointed to Mt. Zion UMC in Lothian. From 1970 to 1978, he served the West Liberty Charge. In 1978, he moved to the Texas Charge and retired from there in 1981.

Hannen was active in the Colliers (W. Va.) UMC. In Weirton, he was a member of the Masonic Lodge Chapter 171 AF&AM, a POW Group, Brilliant American Legion 573, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Baltimore.

He is survived by his wife and many nieces and nephews.

Condolences may be sent to Erdella J. Hannen, 1 Wyngate Drive, Weirton, WV 26062-5048. Memorial contributions may be made to the Colliers United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 184, Colliers, WV 26035.

Hannen was born Jan. 5, 1918, in McKeesport, Pa., to the late Samuel and Mary McDonald Hannen.