“The most exciting time of my life,” Bill reminisced in our 50th-reunion yearbook, “came during my tour of duty with the Eighth Air Force in England. Our flying fortress crew completed 35 missions over Germany, France, and Belgium. I was an engineer-gunner. On our last mission, we sustained heavy flak damage while over the Ruhr Valley and had to bail out over Lincoln, England.”
In 1950, Bill joined the marketing division of Atlantic Richfield Co., where he “enjoyed 31 eventful years in sales, sales promotion, and sales training.” For more than a decade, he headed the firm’s sales-training center in Northeast Philadelphia.
In retirement, he devoted much time to volunteering as a familiar and frequent driver for the American Red Cross and Interfaith Caregivers, and expressed his devout religious faith through his membership in the Haddonfield, N.J., United Methodist Church.
Bill’s marriage ended in divorce after 23 years. When he died Nov. 28, 2013, he was survived by his sons, Richard William and Glenn Edward; his daughter, Corinne Baldyga; and three grandchildren. To them all, the Class of ’46 sends thankfulness for this well-fulfilled, steady lifetime.