memories

Our sincerest condolences to Cathy and Family. Our friendship with Willie goes back to our youth at OBYS and galavanting around Oyster Bay and Locust Valley pubs. And like anyone, bonds that form that young last forever in our hearts. When we think of Willie we just smile, not for any particular or singular memory, just because he was irrepressible and totally full of life. Always funny, smiling and genuinely happy! The nice thing is this wasn’t a veneer, he had a sincerity and loyalty to friends that was touching. So old friend we will miss you but we will always smile when we think of you!

Peace be with you...

Gosh we will miss Willie. We loved his dinner parties and always knew how much his family meant to him. He had such a lively sense of humor and big heart.

Cousin Willie would come and visit my family in Spokane when I was a little girl. He took me on a road trip to Seattle when I was older and it was a great adventure.

We enjoyed meeting all of Willie and Cathy’s extended family members and friends. Willie was surrounded by people who loved him.

Much love and sympathy,

One of my many great memories with Willy was the time he asked me to drive his Jaguar from Seattle to Buffalo, NY where he was doing some long-term consulting work for a bank. It was a thrill driving that car, stopping and seeing my cousins in Montana and Minnesota and driving over the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, through Canada to Buffalo. But it was even more fun delivering it to Willy. To make a long story short, when Cathy and I got married, we never really had a "honeymoon". Irony of all ironies, Willy took me later that day to Niagra Falls, the premier "romantic" site on the East Coast. The hilarious irony was that we were at Niagra Falls on Cathy and my anniversay. I don't remember which one, but there I was calling Cathy to wish her a happy anniversary, holding my cell phone out, saying, "Can you hear the falls, hon?" We had a great laugh out of that. Willy took me out to dinner that night in typical Willy, gourmet fashion. He was always a delight to be with. He made everybody feel like they were his best friend. He was generous and hospitable to a fault. We will miss his presence at all the extended family functions to come.

May legions of angels meet him to take him before the Throne of Infinite Joy and Peace. Love you, Willie.

Oh my goodness. I am so sorry to hear about Will’s passing. I worked with him in Santa Monica at Citibank and then I reconnected with with Will and Cathy when they were living on Mercer Island.

Cathy, my most sincere condolences. He was a wonderful guy and always found the positive outlook in every situation. This makes me so sad.

Hugs, Sue

My wife Bette and I met Jack and Jean Wilson, as well as their children John, Carol and Willie, in the mid 70’s.

We fell in love with them!

We visited them regularly in New York and they visited us in Montana. The Wilson’s became Family!.

Willie was a wonderful, generous loving man, who endeared himself to all who knew him.

May his Soul, through the Mercy of God, Rest In Peace.

I am so sad to hear of Will's passing.

Enjoyed working with him at the Elections office. A special and fun

time was being at your home for wine and seeing the cruise ships go by.

My heart and prayers go out to you.

My deepest condolences on the loss of Willie. He was so welcoming and warm every time we saw him at a family function. Whenever we were out on Whidbey Island he and Cathy would visit the Doyle/Olson round house and spend time with us "catching up.” As a matter of fact, if there was a party involving the Doyles and Olsons, Willie was at it! What an incredible spirit and joie de vivre he displayed throughout his fabulous life. The last time Greg and I saw Willie he saved us from missing our plane back to Palm Springs. We locked ourselves out of the Whidbey House and called Willie to rescue us with his spare key. He did!!! We made the plane!

I am so very sorry for your loss. He will always be in our hearts…

My deepest condolences on the loss of Willie. He was so welcoming and warm every time we saw him at a family function. Whenever we were out on Whidbey Island he and Cathy would visit the Doyle/Olson round house and spend time with us "catching up.” As a matter of fact, if there was a party involving the Doyles and Olsons, Willie was at it! What an incredible spirit and joie de vivre he displayed throughout his fabulous life. The last time Greg and I saw Willie he saved us from missing our plane back to Palm Springs. We locked ourselves out of the Whidbey House and called Willie to rescue us with his spare key. He did!!! We made the plane!

I am so very sorry for your loss. He will always be in our hearts…

Hey Cathy, it’s Caroline. I’m so sorry for your loss. Uncle Willy was such a nice man and he was always so encouraging and kind every time we got to chat. He would always remember to wish me happy birthday. He’s so loved and admired by everyone in the family. I’m thinking of you and I’ll always have a special place in my heart for Uncle Willy.

Hey Cathy, it’s Caroline. I’m so sorry for your loss. Uncle Willy was such a nice man and he was always so encouraging and kind every time we got to chat. He would always remember to wish me happy birthday. He’s so loved and admired by everyone in the family. I’m thinking of you and I’ll always have a special place in my heart for Uncle Willy.

Will was a loving person whose compassion and acceptance made me always feel welcome. My condolences and sympathy to Cathy and the family.

My thoughts are with you.

It's rare in life, I have found, to have a friend like Willie was to me and those around us -- always smiling, fun, open to meeting new people, gregarious...

You probably know he spent quite a bit of time with us at Dartmouth. One of my fondest / scariest memories of time with Will was while we were skiing with friends at the Dartmouth Skiway. A couple of us were standing on the side of the trail admiring Wilson's style while he was heading down toward us. Soon it became clear he intended to spray us with snow, so I, standing in the most vulnerable position, stuck my ski poles firmly in the ground uphill from my body and held on to the top of them. This defensive move might have saved my life as Wilson started the spray action effectively but ended up falling on his side with the bottoms of his skis heading toward me. Wham! His skis bent both my poles and I was knocked over, but we all emerged from this moment with a laugh and, I imagine, a few beers...

I am glad Willie was in my life!

I’m so sorry for your loss. He sounded like an amazing man and I knew you are probable beside yourself right now. I hope you have nothing but good memories to keep, and I hope your sadness trickles away, leaving all the good stuff behind. I hope you can someday share all the stories about him so he can live on to those he left behind. You are family to me and I’m sending you giant hugs and emotional support as you grieve your loss. I’m here for you if there is anything I can do. Until then, know I am thinking of you and will be here to welcome you back with a giant hug, whenever that time comes.

Words can’t express the loss of Willie. My Prayers and thoughts are with you and your Family and please know that I’m here for you in these difficult times when you need anything.

We are so sorry to hear this and are sending our deepest sympathy. Time has passed since we all were together but the memories remain vivid. Thanksgiving in Yosemite, many summers in Twain Hart, dinners at the Bourne’s and following each other on SM. Your Dad postings of all your whereabouts and his love for you all. I especially remember the excitement (&proud) of Chris’ ship passing, the birth of his grandson, and his enjoyment of Mexico trips. My last DM from Willie was in May for my 65th birthday. He mentioned they were in LP, Mex. Enjoying life!

Jaemie and I had a lovely dinner yesterday and toasted Willie. We both told a memory each have of Willie and the family and both said “ Willie was just a positive, joyful man who was fun to be around”. We are thankful for the friendship of your family. Peace to each of you.

Deby Lackas, Jaemie Vanek & Kendra Nevins

I am deeply saddened to hear of the passing of my friend, Willie.

I first met Willie and sister Carol in Sept. 1967 on the first day of school standing on the sidewalk in front of Locust Valley High School. I immediately knew he must be new as I had not seen him or Carol before. We started talking and discovered he was starting 10th grade with me. After that meeting, we were friends and spent a lot of time with each other until we graduated and went off to college.

One weekend when we were in 11th grade, I had acquired a 1956 Pontiac station wagon[ just received my licence] that we were going to race at a drag strip on Long Island[ we never did this before]. Willie, Mark Wanick, Bill Creighton and myself towed this Pontiac to the track using a tow rope. Mark was steering the Pontiac while I pulled it behind my father's Chevy station wagon. .When we arrived at the track, everyone was laughing at us because the Pontiac was not in the best of shape. Before we were able to run the car, Willie had to go hunt for two regular tires to replace the snow tires to be able to race the car. Fortunately, Willie was successful in finding those tires and we were able to run the Pontiac. Willie was a great help in preparing the car that day and we managed to make the car run a tenth of a second off the national record before we were disqualified for jumping the starting lights. Everyone had a great time even though we could not finish the event. Willie and the group had a new experience that day and unfortunately, we were never able to do it again.

Another event that Willie, Bill Creighton, and I took part in was on a Sat. night when none of us had dates. What did we do? We went to a bar in Glen Cove to go drinking. I was the first one to over indulge, so Bill and Willie piled me in the back of Willie's new 1968 VW beetle. They dumped me out at my house and I guess I just passed out. The next day, I received a call [ no internet] from Willie, asking me what happened to his car. I answered that you and Bill dropped me off [ passed out] at my house and I have no knowledge of what happened to the car. Willie went on to explain that they must have been in an accident sometime during the evening and the car was slightly crumpled but drivable. I never learned of the exact circumstances of what happened to the car or who was driving, so, I guess we'll just call it an experience that we all lived through.

On another occasion, I drove over to Willie's house in Brookville, NY to ask him to go out for a ride with me to see some of our other friends. His father, Jack said he couldn't go out until he mowed the lawn. I thought, this is going to take a couple of hours[ he had 3-4 acres] and we'll never get to go out. Willie said to me he could mow the lawn in 15 minutes. I said I thought that would be impossible. Willie walked me over to the back yard where he proceeded to show me some gang cutting mowers[ like used on golf courses] with no tractor or engine. Willie backed up his VW beetle and attached them. We drove that VW around the lawn at 15 mph and I never saw so much grass flying in the air. Willie was right, he cut the grass in 15 minutes and we were able to go out and see other friends. Another great experience with Willie.

I am sorry I will never get to see Willie again; however, we always had a great time and created great memories together.

He was a wonderful person and I will miss him.

Be at peace in the kingdom of heaven.