Bill was a 1963 graduate from Mount Lebanon High School, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Afterwards, he attended disc jockey school and worked as a DJ at a radio station in Meadville, Pennsylvania, prior to enlisting in the U.S. Navy. From 1966 to 1970, Bill was an electronics technician for the U.S. Navy, deployed on the USS Orleck, DD886, which is now at the Jacksonville Naval Museum. He was awarded a Vietnam Service Medal and a National Defense Medal. Bill married Charlotte Richey on June 24, 1972 and they had two sons, Kevin and Kyle. In 1974, Bill graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics Engineering Technology, from Pittsburg State University, in Kansas, using the GI Bill benefits. His career was with Boeing, as a technical writer. After having a heart attack in his early forties, Bill focused on a healthier diet and started biking. He successfully completed the Bike Across Kansas from June 5-12, 1999. Two months later, while driving home from a recreational bike event, north of Wichita, Kansas, he suffered another heart attack. Sadly, he died a few days later, on August 19, 1999, which was our parents’ 59th wedding anniversary. That was a pivotal moment for his son Kyle, who began a new path, which led him into the ministry. Kyle is a pastor and lives with his wife, Justeina and their three children, Jase, Tessa and Braxon, in Defiance, Ohio. Bill’s oldest son, Kevin, is a senior financial analyst and lives with his wife, Deborah, and their daughter, Mia, in New York, New York. Bill had a heart of gold and spread kindness for fifty-three years. The mug on his desk said, “It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.” That’s a powerful message for all of us to remember. Bill was such an optimist, that when he was in the hospital, after being hit by a truck, as a young boy, he said, “Mom, isn’t it great that I only broke one leg, not two.” As he grew older, one of his favorite phrases was, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Due to Bill’s passion for life, our family had “Life’s Biggest Fan” engraved on his memorial brick. It is located near the Angel of Hope Statue, in Kelsey Park, Lake Park, Florida. My wish is that his memory will live on through my children’s book Banana Boy Billy.