William Cermak Ahrano; Uncle Bill passed away at his home after a long illness on October 19th 2022 at the age of 84.Bill was born on May 9th 1938 in Toulminville, Mobile County, Alabama at the Allen Memorial Home. He was the second child of Mr. Frederick William Ahrano and Elizabeth Katherine Cermak. He is survived by his brother, Antoni (Melrose, FL) and sister, Jeanette (Ingleside, TX). He was preceded in death by his eldest sister, Liska. As a child, Bill lived in Decatur, Georgia until his family moved to Ocala, Florida where his father worked on the Cross Florida Barge Canal Project with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.
The family moved to a farm on the west side of Paynes Prairie where he and his eldest sister, Liska, would catch the school bus to attend J.J. Finley School in Gainesville. In the spring of 1945, the family moved to Gainesville where he attended Kirby Smith.
He was a member of the 1st Presbyterian Church of Gainesville, baptized in 1947. Bill was a young entrepreneur who helped his father sell gladiolus from the family farm in Hawthorne. He graduated from Gainesville High School. Bill studied Business and Finance and was a regional manager for Woolworth Department Stores. He married Alice “Patricia” Carswell Milligan in January 1968. Bill went on to open a Volkswagen Repair Shop that he operated for many years. He also operated Ahrano Enterprises, a machine shop and repair service, for over fifty years. He loved boats and spent several years sailing including living for several years on his houseboat in the Bahamas. He was an amateur photographer who enjoyed capturing images of the scenery on many of his boat trips. He built his dream home on Lake Santa Fe. Uncle Bill is best remembered as a man who loved his Beagle dogs. You never saw him without them.
