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Tuesday, November 4
Election Day
This is what it all boils down to. Time to VOTE! |
Biography Written by Jonathan Hunter
A friend of everyone he meets, Bill grew up in Calumet City, Illinois, and graduated
from Thornton Fractional North High School in 1972 with a love for mechanical drawings,
electronics, science, the outdoors, heights, people and reading.
His first couple of years of employment led him to work in the steel industry as
both a union and non-union fabricator/welder. In the mid-seventies, because of his
love of heights, rock climbing and mountaineering he was drawn to the Boilermaker's
Union, which involves a lot of high work. Boilermakers build water
towers and tank farms for refineries. As a traveling Boilermaker, he worked in several
Midwest states. |
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Marrying in 1976, Bill and Linda traveled with his work. With the birth of his first
child, Bill Jr., it was time to settle in Crown Point on three acres. Once settled,
he put his union card into Boilermaker Local 374; working in the steel mills, power
plants and the local refinery. Always starting some project, he tripled the size
of his home by doing all the work himself.
Later, as the economy tightened the Union stopped hiring Traveling Boilermakers
to protect their own, so he became the plant electrician for General American (GATX)
in East Chicago. While employed at GATX, Bill started an electronics repair service
company maintaining industrial control and communications equipment along with radio
towers.
In 1981, his division of GATX shut down and his own company became his full time
livelihood. The first few years were very difficult, but over time, he developed
the business with two storefronts, one in Crown Point and one in the Chicago Western
suburbs turning nearly a million dollars in gross receipts.
During this twenty-year period, he was active in his church, home schooled for a
few years and grew his business to 600 business clients. These included Ameritech,
Waste Management, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Horseshoe Casino,
Museum of Science and Industry, Motorola, multi-hundred vehicle fleets and many
local Government departments, farms and mom-and-pop businesses. He even met the
needs of international governmental agencies.
During the tech-stock meltdown of 1999-2000 several of his major clients bankrupted
within a few short weeks, leaving large unpaid balances on his books. He did everything
in his power to hold the company and his loyal employees intact because he felt
great responsibility for his people and their families.
He explained that he made many payrolls on credit cards trying to endure those hard
times and those who knew him gave him the nickname Mr. Asbestos. Looking back, he
realizes that he should have shut the company down a year earlier.
Cutting a long and complex story short, the company was shut down. Against the advice
of attorneys, accountants and friends, Bill would not file for bankruptcy, and to
this day is still working to 'make good' the turbulent death of his company.
Those difficult times led to his divorce, but he reports that he and his wife always
worked things out with little animosity and are still friends today.
As his business and retirement vaporized, wise friends in the legal and financial
arena guided him toward the consulting world. During his learning process, he fell
in love with the world of legal and financial planning along with asset protection.
As an educator with an analytical mind, he can take these complex subjects and make
them simple. For the last few years, Bill has been a touchstone for those seeking
order in this financially chaotic world. His practice focuses on seniors and Physicians.
His business, Fresh Solutions, LLC is on the square in Crown Point where he councils
with what he calls above average Elder Law attorneys, CPAs, and Certified Financial
Planners.
As a reader and owner of an expansive library of books and electronic media and
as the reader of many paid subscription newsletters relating to the financial and
geopolitical world he points out that he watches about two hours of television a
year and take in perhaps two movies a year. As a student of life, he'd rather live
or learn about life for real, rather that watch someone pretending to live on the
silver screen.
Typically he bikes a little, hikes a bunch, and rollerblades about a thousand miles
a year. This year, because of the campaign, he has not.
In closing, to understand the spirit of what makes Bill tick; I'd have to say, "If
he sees something, he has to determine how it works. It does not matter if it is
a machine, a process, a law, a tax, the economy, a social circle or an electronic
device. Once he's deciphered the complex, he has a way of explaining it in easy
to understand word pictures."
The other thing one realizes is that he stands up for principle and is a defender
of the violated.
His children, all Purdue graduates are:
Bill Jr. of Crown Point is an electronic engineer at Caterpillar in Joliet.
Joy of Valparaiso, a homemaker who works with an international security firm is
fluent in French and Spanish along with working Hebrew has a degree in language
and international marketing. She is the mother of Bill's three-year-old grandson
Ian.
Jeremiah of Saint John is a mechanical engineer and manager at Caterpillar in Joliet. |
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