My memories of Bill are different from most of yours because I was his older first cousin, eight years older in fact, and I knew him as a baby and watched him grow, saw him play with my brother Paul and his older brother Pete. The three boys played together as they grew, and I either played with them or oversaw their shenanigans and tried to keep them out of trouble. Bill was such a cute boy! The photo shows Bill’s dad, Russell holding him at a family picnic at his parent’s home in Homewood, IL. I’m the girl in front and Paul and Pete next to Bill. Next to me is his Aunt Lucille-my mom then our Great Uncle Lee and on his left is my Aunt Libby-Pete and Bill’s mom. Far end of table is our Great Aunt Betty. 1950-1951 is my guess. Relatives from my family and Libby’s family and Russell’s and Lucille’s family always got together for the big holidays. Great food from all the women cooks, pictures and/or movies taken by the men and laughing and talking all the time! At that time all the family lived in WI or IL. Our Grma and Grpa Harder had a place on Lake Winnebago near Fond du Lac and we would take vacations there in summer and sometimes overlap a few days. More fun! Then came high school and college and we cousins all eventually graduated in our own interest area. More parties! And then I married and Bill and all his family were there. I think Bill was finishing high school. Then there was the Service that most males were supposed to enter. Girls didn’t do that often in those days. Bill chose the Merchant Marines and started getting recognized. Then he worked on designing yachts for the rich, making improvements and also working on military ships. Did a great job! He even developed a new type of propeller for some of the ships. And somewhere in there he met and married Marie, the love of his life! More parties! And of course we were having babies! More to celebrate! And the last big affair was Bill’s 70th birthday party in CA. I flew in from AZ and stayed with Paul and Ellen and drove to the party with them and met Chris and Nick whom I had not seen in years! Such fun!! When we would visit Bill and Marie when in WI Bill would take us for nice boat rides in Sturgeon Bay! And then there were Marie’s dinners! I was so shocked and saddened to hear of his passing, but I have all my memories!!
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