William "Bill" Samuel Simpson, Jr.

The family moved to Norfolk, VA in 1940 where his father worked for the C&P Telephone Company, and back to Richmond in 1950. Bill graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1954 and Randolph-Macon College in 1958. Bill enjoyed interning at Randolph-Macon the school’s news bureau, and the two summers he spent as an intern in the sports department of the Richmond News Leader covering softball and stock car racing.

Bill married the late Charlotte Christine (Hart) Simpson in April 1969 and the couple moved to Chapel Hill, NC, where Bill earned a master’s degree in library science at the University of North Carolina. That led him to what Bill considered the most fascinating career he could ever imagine at the Richmond Public Library’s downtown branch from 1971 - 1995. In 1994 he was selected to receive the 37th annual Sherwood Reeder Memorial Award as the City’s Employee of the Year.

Bill became a local history enthusiast while in library school and published many articles in a variety of different journals and newspapers, most under his own name or anonymously, and some under the names of his friends Bernard Henley and Hiram Askew, who supplied him with their own research.

Bill published the eight-volume Richmond Quarterly, the seven-volume Virginia Baptist Ministers: A Biographical Survey 1760-1790, and the five-volume Second Baptist Church Sports Heroes. He was also an avid researcher of amateur boxing history, and enjoyed music (classical, bluegrass, and New Orleans Jazz), and slapstick comedy.

He loved his family, his friends, cookies, and his kitties and dogs. But the love of his life was his beloved Charlotte, with whom he shared a 41-year marriage and whom he adored. Charlotte died in December 2010. He leaves two daughters, Catherine (Simpson) Nase, and Helen (Simpson) Owens, son-in-law Steven Owens, grandchildren Marian Hart Nase and Henry William Simpson Nase, soon to be granddaughter-in-law Cloie Wahl, great grandson Ryder William Nase and brother-in-law William Steinmiller. Bill and Charlotte were members of First Baptist Church; Grace Baptist Church; River Road Church; and finally, Second Baptist Church.

In lieu of flowers, friends may wish to contribute to the Richmond SPCA, or to a charity of their own choosing. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 2:30 p.m. at Second Baptist Church, 9614 River Road, Richmond VA 23229. The burial will be private.