I once brought Bill on a date. Or maybe he invited me, and I brought her along, hoping Bill’s easy, genteel charisma would rub off a little. The Auckland symphony orchestra was playing, and although my date is long-forgotten, the music became a favorite, and I cannot hear Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade without thinking of Bill. Times spent with Bill were often like that for me - he would deftly leave little nuggets of insight and humor in any experience, like the chips in hokey-pokey. He filled a gap for me after Dad had died, certainly not in Dad’s extroverted manner, but if Dad was funny, Bill had wit, and if Dad learned too many things the hard way, Bill quietly mastered the things that held interest. We took Bill antiquing in Reno NV and he bought a Mickey Mouse corkscrew for $20, and that’s when I learned how canny he could be; I needed to directly ask him if it was worth as much, because he hadn’t so much as a whiff of excitement or smugness that would tip anybody off. “Oh yes” he said, “it’s worth ten times that amount .“ That Bill cared about my family is a lesson which I will not forget. He was kind and gentle to my daughters, and that has especially endeared him to Francesca as nothing else possibly can. How ever many miles away we are, Bill is always as near as our hearts. with love, Alan, Francesca, Isabella, Gabriella.