My Friend Bill

"Make new friends, but keep the old - for one is silver and the other is gold..."

It has been said when you go through life, you will make countless acquaintances, many casual friends, and a precious few very good friends. This is the story of Bill, a man who fell into the high end of the "very good friend" category.

I had just started with the Control Data Company in 1980. I was recruited to take a job I was immanently unqualified for - something I had never done before in my life. However, the money offered was very good, and I "fudged" the truth a wee bit in the job interview. So once I was hired, the panic set in - I had to perform or my tenure with this new company would be very short.

I was hired to be the procurement lead on Core Memory Units for the newly awarded AN/AYK-14 computers which were to be used primarily on the F/A - 18 Hornet. In my first production meeting, an engineer named Bill got up to present a summary of his recently completed trip to South Korea. He went there from time to time to check on factory progress for the memory units.

Bill had a full stock of white hair which looked like it had not seen a comb for a while. His cheeks were rosy and he had a twinkle in his eye. In short, this engineer looked like someone I could have run into Dublin rather than Bloomington. His engineering knowledge was very impressive and I knew from the git go that he and I could work well together. 

After that first meeting, Bill and I spent quite a bit of time together. I found out we were both Navy Vets and both had other industry experiences prior to joining Control Data. I asked Bill to be my engineering lead during the upcoming negotiations in California. He was as anxious to learn about the negotiation process as I was to learn about this new job and new product. I don't think Bill realized this at the time - I was much more dependent on learning from him than anything he could possibly learn from me. 

Over the next few months, Bill and I traveled quite a bit together. We had a large team assembled as this was a high value, high dollar negotiation. In the "old days" of negotiations, there was quite of bit of libation and fancy restaurants after days of fact finding, discovery and discussions. Sometimes we ended up in parts of LA that were not particularly safe. At all times, whether it was at the negotiation table, a fancy restaurant or otherwise, Bill would always tell me "I've got your back". And had my back he did.

I had never had a friend like Bill in the business world - in fact, I had never had a friend like Bill anyplace. He was a confidant, a mentor and a body guard. He was there for me day in and day out. I was with him when his marriage fell apart, the divorce, when he met his new wife, and at his wedding. I helped him move into his new house and with his new wife, he was ready to start the next chapter in his life.

Not long after he moved into his new house, I went down to Engineering to visit. Bill was not in as he was on a sick day. A sick day? Bill? That was a first. Bill was about as robust as any man I had ever met. He was out the next two days as well. When he finally came back to work, he told me why he had been out. After having some indigestion that would not go away, he went to the doctor to see if he had gall stones. What the doctor found was much, much worse. Bill had three inoperable tumors on his liver. He was to start chemo immediately as with this cancer, time was not Bill's friend.

Bill fought this cruel disease in the same manner he did everything else - full throttle. The first time I visited Bill in the hospital, we talked about "guy things" and danced around the gravity of his situation. Bill was so strong, it was so strange to see him laying in a hospital bed with tubes coming out of him. After the visit when I got up to leave, he and I shook hands. His grip was firm and he would not let go of my hand. He and I looked at each other and without speaking, our eyes communicated what our voices could not. It is a moment I will never forget.

As Bill continued treatment, I had received a job offer and moved on to another company. I had just gotten home from my first business trip when my wife told me she had some bad news to share. Bill died that day. I sat at the kitchen table and cried like a baby. It was so unfair - Bill was only 47 years old.

I often think about my friend Bill. He was a friend like I will probably never have again. I had never met anyone so loyal, so true. He taught me so much, but the thing I remember the most was learning what "I've got your back" really means. Rest easy my friend, rest easy.