William Murray Metten Jr. lived by a simple rule: Leave the world better than he found it.
Whether that be through raising money to create the Police Athletic League of Delaware building in Hockessin or cleaning litter off the beach, Metten Jr. did his best to improve his beloved home state. He even tried to pick up a piece of trash in the parking lot on his last beach trip before his death this past Wednesday.
“I’ve heard him say over the years [he] would always like to leave the woodpile a little higher than when [he] came into this world,” said his wife Nancy Metten. “And I really think he did.”
Metten Jr. was born in Wilmington in 1940 to a family deeply embedded in the Delaware community. His grandfather William F. Metten was the publisher of Every Evening, the Wilmington-based publication that later became The News Journal.
“He’s got the newspaper blood in his veins,” Nancy Metten said.
She recalled her husband of 53 years telling her about visiting the Every Evening office downtown. His grandpa would take him to see the printing presses, she said, and the employees would always make him a hat out of folded-up newspapers.
Family ties like this made Metten Jr. “proud of his Delaware heritage,” his son William Metten III said. He even paid upwards of $5,000 for a genealogist to study his ancestry before more mainstream genealogy sites caught on.
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He ultimately determined himself to be a sixth-generation Delawarean, with ancestors dating back to the 1700s. It makes his son and grandson – both of whom share his name – seventh and eighth-generation Delawareans.
People knew him as “Mr. Delaware,” his wife said. He knew figures like President Joe Biden and was even present when Biden announced his run for Senate in the 70s.
He worked in public relations after college in 1964, rising to leadership roles at Delaware Power & Light Company and ICI Americas Inc. Later, in 1991, he founded the Bill Metten & Associates public relations firm with his wife, where he worked until he retired in 2009.
Outside of the office, Metten Jr. was a longstanding member of the Rotary Club of Wilmington. He volunteered with organizations across the state, including the Needy Family Fund and Meals on Wheels. He especially admired the volunteerism of firefighters, and he co-founded the Delaware Fire Service Newspaper in 1997. He also made sure to attend every firefighter parade to show his support.
“He was the type of person that cared about the community he lived in,” his son said.
He was also an avid collector of Silver Strikes, a type of token won in slot machines that can be exchanged for varying amounts of money. Most Silver Strikes have a limited edition theme. Nancy Metten said her husband, for example, won some special memorial ones honoring the Sept. 11 attacks.
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The couple would fly regularly to vacation and gamble in Las Vegas, making lifelong friends along the way. In the end, Metten Jr. collected over 1,000 Silver Strike coins. He even joined the Silver Strikers Club and wrote for their newsletter.
“It was always the hunt and the chase of the Strike,” Nancy Metten said.
Metten Jr. also collected cars, though it didn’t start out that way. Metten III said his dad used to test drive and review cars for The Hunt Magazine. And while he was supposed to return the cars afterward, sometimes he loved them so much that he just bought them – often without telling his wife, Metten III added with a laugh.
Metten III said his father passed this love of cars down to him and his sister Victoria, along with pride in their home state. He said he sees that same pride in his own son, whom he’s overheard bragging about being an eighth-generation Delawarean.
A graveside service for Metten Jr., who died at 81, will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Gracelawn Memorial Park in New Castle.
Send story tips or ideas to Hannah Edelman at hedelman@delawareonline.com. For more reporting, follow them on Twitter at @h_edelman.
