Tribute to Bill At first glance, Bill seems just an ordinary guy. He went about his life just plugging away, like the vast majority of us. He wasn’t the type to twitter or facebook or seek to elevate his ego above anyone else. While his generation may have been the “free and easy” liberated one, to me he was more like the “greatest” generation who survived the Great Depression and won World War II. He just went about his life facing whatever came about his way, struggling to push the rock back up the hill so to speak. He did not seek platitudes, attention, name or face recognition or the need to be “heard.” You would think, who would ever listen to this guy? Yet everyone does…and that is what makes Bill so extraordinary. I always liked talking to Bill one to one, and with Anna. Bill listens to understand how you interpret what’s happening that makes you feel the way you do. What makes Bill so special is he always knows what to say to help you get through the dilemma you’re wrestling with at the moment. I think that is why God put Bill on this earth, to be a big brother. I have thought that for a long time. Sure, he was a big brother to Dennis, Tommy and Mary Kay. However, he reached people beyond the brothers and sister with whom he grew up. His ability to listen and put things into perspective helped me understand how I could change my view to better cope with my own situation. I venture to say many others were also helped he happened to come across day to day. So Bill leaves us as this quite extraordinary empathetic person who came into our lives and gave us emotional support at those small but critical junctures when we needed it most. That’s the way it was with me when I was eleven years old visiting him over the summer, or when he would talk to me as a teenager dealing with more than pimples, or as an adult trying to figure out how keep my head screwed on right. Who wouldn’t miss a person like that! Bill will remain with us because our interaction with him has become more than just a memory, it is part of the fabric of each of our human experience on this earth. His ability to understand and help others cope are what makes Bill so extraordinary. Bill, you will be missed. It may be a stretch for some because it requires faith in a Power higher than humanity, but I do not think God is done with Bill. I am not worthy to speak for the Almighty but pondered if Bill’s God given mission in life was to be a big brother when each of us needed it most. In my heart I know Bill is in heaven but wonder if his spirit won’t be back helping someone somewhere somehow in need of a guiding hand. His spirit lives on in all of us.