Following suit as I have been so far, its time to talk about my brother Bill. William. Billie to me even if he is old enough for Medicare. Since Jim was away in the Navy, Bill stepped into the big brother role very naturally. My brother Dick is just 18 months younger than Bill so they have always been very close. My earliest memories of Billie seem to be of him cleaning the house. I believe I mentioned earlier that mom chose other pursuits and Billie had a need for order. By the way, he is very good at cleaning. I was jealous of Bill and Dick when they were allowed to got to "Teen Time", a dance held at the school for teenagers in the neighborhood. I wanted to go to the party, too! I can remember standing on the porch of our house looking miserably after them as they rode their bikes off to the dance. Billie was 9 when David and I were born. The same age I was when Bill's first child was born. More of that later.

Somewhere around the age of 10, Bill fell out of a tree and broke both of his arms. Family lore has it that someone ran home and told mom that Billie had broken his neck. She hurdled a very high fence (mom was barely 5'1") and got to him in a hurry. There are some great pictures in the family album of Billie with casts on both arms grinning. with all the neighborhood kids around him.

Bill married Linda very young and had a son right away, followed shortly by a daughter and then another son. A fourth son was born in 1969. The marriage ended when the children where teenagers. He later married Diane in 1983.

When I think of my brother Bill I think first of his wry sense of humor. He's just downright funny. Over the years he has proven his ability with home projects and has great pride in his home. He has done beautiful and meticulous work.

In the last few years Billie has faced some very difficult health problems. His dear wife Diane and brother Dick have been with him every step of the way. Sadly, because of the distance, I'm not able to be with him as much as I would like, but he's never far from my thoughts. I spent some time with him shortly after his first surgeries. I knew my brother was on the road back when he started cracking jokes. Really silly jokes. Just the kind a kid sister loves to hear.

He's come so far, and I am fiercely proud of him. It's possible he won't be able to do some of the things he had hoped to do at this time of his life and that's disappointing. But he's here with us, and he is greatly loved.

More later.