Published: June 20, 2009 10:09 pm      

TFDA: Pennington Texas ‘Funeral Director of Year’

San Marcos business owner William C. “Bill” Pennington Sr.has been named Funeral Director of the Year by the Texas Funeral Directors Association.

The award was presented during the TFDA’s “Night of a Thousand Stars” Gala at the Hyatt Regency in Austin.

Owner and president of Pennington Memorial Corporation and Pennington Funeral Home in San Marcos, as well as McCurdy Funeral Home in Lockhart and Memory Lawn Memorial Park, Pennington has been associated with the family-owned funeral business since 1961.

He has also been active in the Texas Funeral Directors Association for many years and has served as president of TFDA Services, Inc. since 2004.

He is a former member of the TFDA Services, Inc. Board of Directors and the Texas Funeral Directors Association. Board of Directors and past president of the South Central Texas Funeral Directors Association.

Involved in his church and community, Pennington is a Paul Harris Fellow and past president of the San Marcos Rotary Club, past president of the San Marcos Heritage Association, board member of the Upper San Marcos Watershed Reclamation and Flood Central District, member of the Central Texas Medical Center Foundation Board of Directors and former director and past president of the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce.

He was a director of State Bank and Trust (now Frost Bank) for 18 years and has served on the boards of Central Texas Golf Fest, Central Texas Higher Education Authority Services Corporation, San Marcos Little League, city of San Marcos Historical Society, Hays County Industrial Foundation and Hays County Youth Association, among numerous other community activities.

An avid Texas State Bobcat fan, Pennington was recognized with the Key of Excellence Award from the Texas State Alumni Association in 1991.

He has served on the boards of the Milton Jowers Classic and Jowers Jamboree and the Texas State Bobcat Athletic Foundation.

He also participated in the NCAA Self-Study Committee, the Athletic Excellence Task Force and the IA Task Force for the university. Bill was named a Distinguished Alumni of San Marcos High School by the San Marcos Education Foundation in 2007.

During his teen years, Bill became involved as a bass player with a group called the Traits, headlined by Roy Head.

The band had several hits and was inducted into the International Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2007.

Bill shares duties at Pennington Memorial Corp. with his wife, Linda, and their daughter, Kristin Wingard, who represents the family’s third generation of funeral directors.

The Penningtons also have a son, Collier, and three grandchildren, Emma, Trip and Mattison.