Bill, retired since 1998 as director operations for AT&T Wireless, died Dec. 11, 2020, at home in Killen, Ala., having moved there in July from Huntsville, Ala.

“Thanks for caring about my Bill,” his wife, Sherry Sanders, wrote to Bill’s friend Michael Addison. “He was loved so much and is greatly missed.”

Until 2015 he lived in Leesburg, Fla., near his daughter, Diana, of Groveland, Fla., grandson Scott and great-grandson Maxton. He also has a granddaughter, Nicola, in Ripon, Wis., and another great-grandson, Ben, who lives near Gainesville, Fla.

Over the past couple of years, Bill’s health deteriorated, first with diastolic heart failure, then with kidney disease. Both conditions worsened over time and were complicated by diabetes.  

“Bill and I were married Sept. 25, 2010, under a grove of trees in a park in Ocala, Fla.,” Sherry said. “He used to laugh that his friends would never believe he married an Alabama girl, but the north and south worked out just fine.  He even became a big Alabama football fan.”

Bill’s wife of 39 years died in 2004. “We shared a love for horses--I bet on them--she rode them,” he said. “Had a small horse farm in Ocala.” A few years ago he said on our website that “I'm very happy to have found a second love this late in life and will not waste the opportunity to enjoy the relationship.” 

Sherry was a prominent country singer in the 1970s under the name Sherry Bryce, cutting solo albums and duets with Mel Tillis. Subsequently she became an author, writing a well-received historical novel, "My Brother...My Son," based on the lives of her family members during the Civil War. 

Bill enjoyed accompanying her on book-signing tours, and they also toured Civil War battlefields. Each summer he made a “pilgrimage” to watch the Cubs and visit with close friends Billy Kulp and Barry Golden.

He grew up on the corner of Roger Williams and Judson Avenue, and went to Ravinia School and Edgewood Junior High. At 13 “Lippo” was providing some of us with our first experience of the curve ball. At first you thought it would pass behind you, and then it would hook over the plate for a called strike. That curve served him well in high school. In those years he also played ice hockey in Wilmette with Clarkson, Duffy, Helding, Wolens, Wurm and others on a team that won the first Illinois amateur championship.

“He was an avid sports fan, especially anything to do with the Chicago Bears, Cubs and Blackhawks,” said Sherry.  “He wasn't much of a basketball fan. Bill has always been competitive, and could play online poker endlessly. Whenever my son and daughter-in-law came to visit, several rounds of poker were always on the agenda, and if he lost, he wanted to keep playing until he won again.”