William Coyne, Painter, 78

[DGH]

.

William Coyne, a Chicago, Illinois, native, died of heart and lung
problems Monday, November 28, 2005, in Ingalls Hospice Center in
Harvey, Illinois, at the age of 78.

The dozens of greeting cards tacked around the porch door of William
Coyne's house in Orland Park at Christmastime testified to the
extensive community network he built through his painting business.

Over the last 50 years, he won customers by word of mouth and provided
summer jobs for neighborhood youths.

"You start building a relationship with people," said his grandson and
employee Jamie Callahan. "You become more than their decorator or their
house painter. You end up on their Christmas card list."

"His basic philosophy was that he treated everybody with respect," his
brother Gerald said. "He focused all his attention on the person he was
dealing with. He treated everybody fairly and equally."

Mr. Coyne joined the Merchant Marines in World War II when he was 16,
and then served in the Army. After some college, he decided to start
working for his father, who was a painter, and soon grew to love the
business.

For more than five years, Mr. Coyne was a resident staff painter at the
Palmer House Hotel, constantly looping around the building, washing and
repainting rooms and hallways, his brother said.

Soon enough, he decided it was time to open his own business, and
formed Ritetone Decorating Service, through which he employed family
members and their friends. If a neighbor saw Mr. Coyne's crew working
and asked if there was work for her son, he'd find something for the
teen to do.

"He would just about hire anyone," his grandson said. "More often than
not he'd give them a chance."

One of those young men was John Doll, who asked Mr. Coyne for work
after graduating high school in 1963. Mr. Coyne, still working for his
father at the time, talked to his dad and the next week Doll was given
a paintbrush and taught how to do the job. Doll has worked for Mr.
Coyne ever since.

"He was the best man I ever knew," Doll said. "He was a teacher. He was
a friend. To me, he was the big brother I never had."

Most of Mr. Coyne's business came from repeat customers.

"A lot of the times, the first thing we'd do [with customers] is sit
down, have some coffee, talk about what their families might be doing,"
his grandson said. "It never seemed to be strictly about business."

Perhaps that's because business, for Mr. Coyne, was a family affair. He
worked with brothers, uncles, cousins and sons. Not least of all was
the woman who worked behind-the-scenes, making sure his business ran
smoothly--his wife, Patricia.

On a blind date on New Year's Eve 1947, a nervous 16-year-old Patricia
Quinn arrived at St. Sabina Parish to meet Mr. Coyne, then 20 and just
out of the Army.

"It wasn't like love at first sight or anything like that," she
recalled, laughing. "You could just see he was a great guy."

They married in 1950 and had two sons and a daughter.

In 1977, the family moved from Chicago to Orland Park, where they
joined St. Michael Catholic Church.

Mr. Coyne was an avid sports fan and golfer.

Other survivors include two sons, William Jr. and Louis; a daughter,
Mary Kay Duffy; another brother, Leo; a half-brother, Mickey Coyne; a
half-sister, Patricia Curnow; nine other grandchildren; and six
great-grandchildren.

Chicago Tribune