William ‘Bill’ Ashforth
William “Bill” Robert Ashforth passed away peacefully on May 16, 2025 at the Hospice of the Panhandle, with his loving wife beside him and surrounded with poetry and music from his children.
Raised as a Catholic, he embraced the teachings of the Buddha as he reflected on changes he wanted to see in himself, and landed at the Presbyterian Church in Shepherdstown.
He is preceded in death by his father, Louis William Ashforth, and mother, Kathleen Ashforth Farese.
Originally from Massachusetts, Bill was educated at Boston Latin School, Northeastern University and finished with a Masters of Science in Information Systems at the Naval Postgraduate School in California. After many posts around the US with his family, Bill found his way to West Virginia as the Commanding Officer for the US Coast Guard’s Operations Systems Center in the early 90s and remained in the area after developing a great appreciation for the landscape and community. Bill had common threads that united his life: family, leadership, community, music and nature.
He served 27 years in the Coast Guard as a commanding officer, receiving a variety of commendations including: Commendation Medal with Gold Star, Humanitarian Service Medal, The Secretary’s Award for Outstanding Achievement/Gold Medal and many, many more. After leaving the Coast Guard, Bill was a trainer with the Easter Management Development Center before joining the US Fish and Wildlife Service at the National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) for his final career move. Over the next 10 years, his over 500 USFWS students referred to him as the “Yoda of Leadership” teaching the Stepping Up To Leadership Program, where he modeled “leading from the heart” and met his new joy in life and future spouse – Georgia Jeppesen. As an active member of the community, Bill was a deacon and member of the Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church, a volunteer with the Shepherdstown Elementary “Read Aloud Program,” and board member of his homeowners association. In his retirement, you could find him operating the sound camera equipment on Sundays and co-leading strategic planning and visioning at church, mentoring youth from elementary to recent grads, supporting local community needs through book donations to Shepherdstown Day Care and helping to address basic community needs through Shepherdstown Shares. Bill loved music and he loved to channel his generosity and sense of community through that love. While working at NCTC, he integrated music and musical instruments into his leadership trainings. He also volunteered his eclectic collection of drums and musical instruments and his leadership talents to lead local nature camp classes in musical appreciation activities. Bill loved creating a room in the house for music, where visiting family members could just “pick up and play” his many instruments. Bill also enjoyed the outdoors and would enjoy weekend retreats with his family, hikes at Potomac Valley Audubon Society’s Yankauer Nature Preserve and annual Thanksgiving trips to Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. He carried with him a love of photography and enjoyed developing pictures in his self-built darkroom in his younger years.
Bill is survived by his wife Georgia Jeppesen, brother Robert Ashforth, daughter Jeanine Ashforth, son Kerry Ashforth (Michael) daughter Brittany Ashforth-Leavitt (Christopher) and their son Brendan, and son Skylar Jeppesen Benedict (Caitlyn), as well as many cherished in-laws, nieces and nephews.
A celebration and remembrance gathering will be held at the Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church, Shepherdstown WV on Saturday June 21 at 11:00 am. Reception in the church fellowship hall to follow.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Michael J Fox Foundation (https://give.michaeljfox.org/give/) or the Potomac Valley Audubon Society’s Yankauer Nature Preserve (https://www.potomacaudubon.org/support/).
Online condolences may be offered at www.BrownFuneralHomesWV.com.