April 5, 1947 – May 17, 2020
Bill was born in the Canal Zone, Panama. After graduating from Balboa High School, Bill spent 8 years in the Canal Zone Apprentice Program graduating with both Machinist and Tool and Die Maker certifications. He worked with the canal in many positions, up to Lock- master (he was the youngest lock master in canal history).
Coming to the United States in the late 1970s, he worked for Piper Aircraft in Lakeland, Florida, setting up and managing their R&D department. Other employment found Bill in North Carolina in the early 80s, working for Daniel Zumstein machine shop in Etowah, North Carolina.
Back to Florida, he spent twelve years working for An- heuser-Busch in Gainesville. After retiring from there, he opened a Hobby Shop in High Springs. Florida. Moving back to North Carolina in 2006, Bill and Ruth ran a Hobby Shop in Mills River for six years. Bill started his Hobby career with his first train set at age 8, and was featured in a model train magazine by the age of 10. He went on to radio controlled airplanes of all kinds, building hundreds of planes and teaching people to fly them. Bill even proved to Piper Aircraft, by building and flying a model of a Piper aircraft with design flaws, that if a change were made in the design, the aircraft would then fly better.
Bill was a wonderful supporter of WNC Air Museum and served as President from 2017 until his death on May 17, 2020 during the Covid epedemic. His wife Ruth planned a Memorial Fly-In Breakfast at the Museum in early August at which time Bill’s ashes were spread over Johnson Field by Dennis Dunlap in his Stearman.