William Hamilton Burwell (a.k.a. Bill), of Franklin, PA, passed away on August 13th at 3:14 pm at his home after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease.

Born on 4 April 1951 to Katherine Hamilton Burwell and Armistead Burwell, in Charlotte, NC.

At the age of 5, Bill attended a Billy Graham Crusade and asked Christ into his heart to be his Lord and Savior.

After graduating from Meyers Park High School in 1969, he attended Davidson College where he was a member of the Beta Beta Pi fraternity. He graduated in 1973 with a degree in history.

He attended Law School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

During the summers of 1974 and 1975 he was a Summer Policeman in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Upon graduating in 1976, he served as the Police Attorney in Jacksonville and then Highpoint, North Carolina, where his love of the Lord increased expedentially and he recieved the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

In 1982 he moved to Clintonville PA. In the early 80’s he served Venango County as Public Defender, and later that decade he went into private practice. He retired in the spring of 2016.

On 18 May 1991, Bill wed Traci Williams at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Franklin. They have two daughters, Sarah “Grace” (born 7 January 1994) and Hannah (born 20 January 1998). When the girls were young he would get down on the floor and unashamedly play barbies with them.

Bill, an avid and gifter golfer, attempted get his girls excited about the game. He and the girls played “golf green golf” with an indoor putting green and black cat, Bobb Catt, crouching at the ball hole, batting the the golf ball in, to which the girls delighted. Even at Bill’s decline he maintained his “beautiful and strong” golfing drive.

Bill was very active in the Christian community.

He served on the board of the Bair Foundation from 1984 — 2016.

He was a Gideon, served on the board for WAWN, also for the local Salvation Army.

Bill ministered and witnessed to many prisoners through the Venango County Prison Ministry from the early 80’s through 2016.

He served as a Lay Elder at Galloway United Methodist Church and as an elder at Chapel on the Hill, Assembly of God Church.

Bill led numerous bible studies and Sunday School classes. Several friends describe him as the best bible teacher they had ever encountered.

Bill is survived by his wife, Traci Burwell, of Franklin; daughter Grace of Redondo Beach, CA; daughter Hannah of Titusville; brother “Buck” and his wife Linda of NC, sister MaryKay and husband Paul of NC; brother John and wife Martha SC; father-in-law Samuel and wife Peggy of Pleasantville; and many nieces and nephews.

Bill was preceeded in death by his father Armistead Burwell, mother Katherine Burwell and mother-in-law Sally Williams.

In leui of flowers a donation is suggested to The Bair Foundation, Bill Burwell Scholarship Fund (a fund set up to help children who have no personal possessions as they enter into their new Christian foster home.)

A Memorial Service and celebration of Bill’s life with be held at Christ United Methodist Church on Saturday August 19th at 11 AM.