I am blessed to have been a part of Bill’s childhood growing up in Ogdensburg, NY and later, in our adulthood, we joined the US Air Force.
Bill in his younger years was known as “Buddy” and I looked up to him as my hero. Bill was multitalented, having a natural talent for painting landscapes in oils, together, spent our families’ summers at our grandfather’s camp situated on an island in the St. Lawrence River, close to Ogdensburg and Cardinal Ont.
Bill was a very strong bodied young man and enjoyed fishing with his grandfather and family. He had an independent nature and spent a good deal of time on St. Elmo’s Island searching the dense woods covering the mile square island. He was a natural outdoorsman and loved to build tree houses out of the local growth. I must have been a pain in Buddie’s Butt as I was always trying to tag along when he went out on another woodland hike or oil painting another landscape. As you may have figure out, he preferred adults to kids growing up.
Soon enough, as children we grew into teens and the Saint Lawrence SEAWAY construction began in or around 1952. Officials with the US and Canada came to pay visits to our islands. They informed our family that they would be taking over these islands and demolishing camps, to create a deep water channel between Canada and the United States by dredging and raising the water level from Lake Ontario outlet to the St. Lawrence Bay beyond Montreal. We lost our favorite place in the whole word, our little bit of heaven. Today, these islands have been molded into one, single, long island from Ogdensburg International Bridge down river to just passed, St. Elmo’s, now re-named Gallop Island.
By now, Bill had graduated high school and joined the USAF to fly B-49’s and tankers, as a Loading Specialist/boom operator. Next time we got back together, I was in my twenties out of college, and joined the Air Force in 1961. I was assigned duty on CAPE COD at Otis Air Base. Much to my surprise, I learned cousin Staff Sgt. Bill Randles was still in active duty, stationed at Otis as a KC97 Boom Operator, refueling B-52’s and Lockheed KC radar planes over the arctic circle. He mentioned on occasion it was a White Knuckles job with long hours. When we met again, he introduced me to his wife, Frieda, a real Georgia Peach, and 4 children, living on base. At this moment I’d ask for a moment of prayer for Cousin Frieda. Very recently she passed in January 2024. Bill has always loved her deeply, and was his guiding light throughout his life. Bill lost Frieda January 24,2024 and never cared to carry-on without his One Love.
During our mutual stay at Otis, we enjoyed home-cooked meals from Frieda and opened their home to my family and my future bride, Peggy A. Bill retired from the Air Force while serving at McCoy AF Base in Orlando FL. It was here they lived out their remaining years working at Disney World.
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