William Colin Trenary III (1933 – 2024)

William Colin Trenary III died peacefully at his home at Maple Grove in Warren County on October 13, 2024. He was 91.

William Colin Trenary III

Bill, or “Billy,” as his family called him, was born August 6, 1933, in Front Royal to the rosy-cheeked Francis Garrison Blackwell Trenary and William C. Trenary Jr.

Bill was truly the embodiment of a gentleman farmer: he was a gentle man and a gentleman, gentle with animals and gentle with people.

In his yearbook at Warren County High School, he said he wanted to be a “scientific farmer.” He was a scientific farmer, using research-based methods and analytics, from relying on Expected Progeny Differences to predict traits in beef cattle to introducing thistle weevils to control thistles without chemicals.

He taught his grandchildren how to gently separate cattle and even how to collect an egg from under a chicken that was still sitting on it.

He graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute (always “VPI,” not “Virginia Tech”) in 1955, where he was a member of the Corps of Cadets. He maintained that disciplined daily regimen throughout his life—he made his bed first thing every morning.

He worked as a Cooperative Extension Agent from 1957 to 1972 in Prince William County, insisting on planting thousands of pine trees as a noise buffer for the fledgling Dulles International Airport in the Washington suburbs. He then returned to the farm in Warren County, where he raised cattle and sheep for the rest of his life.

His parents predeceased Bill; and his wife, Melba H. Rice Trenary, for whom he went through screening to donate a kidney.

He is survived by his sister, Martha “Pattie” Irvin of Richmond; daughters, Alice Denham (husband Doug) of San Antonio, Texas, and Julianne Trenary of Austin, Texas; stepson, David Rice of Raleigh, North Carolina; grandchildren, Caitlyn Denham, Briana Denham, Rebecca Ho, Garrison Ho, Benjamin Rice and Kate Rice; and a special guardian angel in his latter years, Donna Shackelford.

Bill was a member of First Presbyterian Church in Winchester and, previously, Nineveh Presbyterian Church in Warren County.

Family and friends will receive friends at 2 p.m. Saturday, October 26, at Maddox Funeral Home, 105 W. Main Street, Front Royal. A service at 3 p.m. and a graveside service for family will follow at Prospect Hill Cemetery, 200 W. Prospect Street, Front Royal.

Memorial contributions can be made to Blue Ridge Hospice, 333 W. Cork St. #405, Winchester, VA 22601, and North Warren Volunteer Fire Company, 266 Rockland Court, Front Royal, VA 22630.