William C. Bollinger

Bill was born in Aberdeen, South Dakota on October 3, 1944 to Janice and Charles Bollinger. At the time Bill was born, Charlie was serving in the South Pacific during World War II. In a letter he wrote to his wife, Charlie wrote, “Name the boy William Carl.” Charlie fought at Iwo Jima as part of the Fifth Division in the Marines and he didn’t meet his son until the summer of 1945. His father’s experiences generated a life-long fascination with World War II history and Iwo Jima and military aviation in particular.

Bill had two older sisters, Pearl and Beulah, and a younger brother, Gerald. As a young boy Bill attended school near his grandparents’ farm in Conde, South Dakota. His parents took Bill and Jerry and moved several times during the course of several years, partly to find a location that didn’t provoke Bill’s severe allergies and asthma and partly to follow construction sites that would offer Charlie a job as a sprinkler pipe fitter. Pearl and Beulah stayed with their grandparents, Carl and Henrietta Sandquist, on the farm.

After leaving Conde, Bill attended elementary schools in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Arlington, Texas, Beaumont, Texas and Pueblo and Denver, Colorado. He loved fishing with his dad on the Gulf Coast, building model airplanes and collecting coins.

At age 11 he survived a lengthy struggle with polio, enduring months immobile in an iron lung at a hospital in Arlington, TX. The experience left his throat partially paralyzed and he had to relearn how to talk and swallow. Though the aftereffects of polio exacerbated his asthma, Bill fought hard to regain his health. While recuperating, Bill’s stuttering speech and jerky, labored swallow led to intense bullying from his peers in public school. His parents decided to enroll him in a Catholic school in Pueblo, which Bill praised for its strict discipline and rigorous education.

In the late ‘50s Bill returned to South Dakota. He loved to hunt and help on the farm. To his Grandfather Carl Sandquist’s chagrin, Bill loved taking apart farm equipment engines and tinkering with them in the barn. He attended Brentford High School and often reminisced about his time playing football, where the coach was impressed because of Bill’s experience playing in Texas. In 1962 he graduated from Brentford High School. He attended South Dakota State University, Brookings from 1962-64.

Bill married Janis Nierman of Groton, South Dakota on July 12, 1964. They moved to Detroit, MI where he served four years as an apprentice and one year as a journeyman toolmaker and graduated from Washington Trade Center. He earned his commercial pilot’s license and purchased his own Cessna airplane. He taught flying lessons and flew for Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain, who also played professional organ. Bill flew Denny around the country to gigs and appearances for Hammond Organs.

During this time Bill also attended Wayne State University, where he tutored algebra to inner-city students. Janis and Bill attended Grosse Pointe Unitarian Church in Grosse Pointe, MI. Bill became active in protests and social justice causes through the university and the church. He enjoyed the arts, attending several gallery openings and becoming friends with university artists. He and Janis owned a sailboat and he loved to sail and race on Lake St. Clair and the Great Lakes. He and Janis attended several theater and concert productions, including the original Broadway production of “Hair” and a Jimi Hendrix concert. He and Janis spent a few weeks exploring the Bahamas in their Cessna in 1968.

Bill graduated from Wayne State University in 1968 with a B.S. degree in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. His degree was a great source of pride and he followed news from Wayne State University the rest of his life.

The birth of his daughter, Mandy Rae, in 1969 caused Bill to reassess his career path. In 1970 Bill and his father and brother started the company Arrow Systems, Inc. Arrow Systems manufactured automatic sprinkler systems.

In 1972 Bill and Janis moved their family and the company to Denver. Two years later they divorced. Soon after, Bill married Patricia Anderson Kallman and the two started a new fire protection company, Sigma Design, Inc. Sigma Design was one of the first companies to use computer technology - CAD - to design sprinkler systems.

During the late ‘70s and early ‘80s Bill and Pat worked long hours to ensure the success of Sigma Design while raising her two children from a previous marriage, Lisa and Robert Kallman. In 1982 they sold the business, requiring Bill to travel to several locations in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and Beirut. For years he had traveled extensively around the United States for his business, and he considered every trip an adventure. He and Pat also took a European trip and over the years he went back several times for business and pleasure.

For four years, Bill enjoyed retirement. In the summer of 1983 Bill and Mandy took a six-week trip to Amsterdam, Greece and Egypt. He traveled to South Dakota several times to visit family and friends and get certified to Scuba dive, which he did several times at Lake Oahe near Pierre, South Dakota. At Lake Oahe, Bill went diving with his friend John Jones, Beulah’s husband, searching for Native American artifacts.

Bill also revived interest in two childhood hobbies, model airplanes and coin collecting. For years he spent summer weekends at Cherry Creek Reservoir model airplane field. He went to the Bahamas several times with friends, where he purchased his beloved china. He often told the story of the Wedgewood china’s origins during his many dinner parties.

He also ran almost every day and competed in several 5K races, including the Bolder Boulder. Gardening became a passion, and his backyard with pool, hot tub and gazebo looked like the Botanic Gardens.

In 1986 Bill bought back the Fire Protection Division of Sigma Design, Inc. The purchase included rights to the Sigma trade name and existing software products. The new company was named Sigma Dynamics.

In 1987 Bill and Mandi, joined by Mandi’s cousin, Pearl’s daughter Jenifer, again went to Europe. They took in a performance of Les Miserables at the Palace theater in London. Bill saw this musical, his favorite, an additional four times during the course of his life. The cousins continued on through Europe by themselves, with stops in Germany, Finland and the Soviet Union, following an itinerary developed by Bill.

Bill bought a sailboat in the early ‘90s. Weekends flying model airplanes were replaced with sailing his boat. For a few years he kept the boat at Cherry Creek Reservoir. During this time Mandi lived in California, and Bill flew her out for the weekend just to go sailing. They also rented a sailboat in San Diego. When Mandi moved to Dillon, he moved his sailboat to Lake Dillon for three years. He often said that sailing on Lake Dillon were his favorite memories.

In 1995 Bill’s nephew, Gerald Bollinger, Jr (“Jay”), came to live with him. Jay lived with Bill until he graduated from Overland High School in 1999.

Bill sold part of Sigma in 1996 and he, Mandi and Jay took a two-week vacation to Barbados. At this time he nurtured a long-time love of theater and art movies. He subscribed to productions at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, in part to develop Mandi and Jay’s sense of theater. He and Mandi went to the movies at least once a week for a few years. He also indulged his love of reading and writing poetry and he started a memory book of his father’s experiences during World War II, including interviewing the man who saved his father’s life.

Bill had retained part of the rights to Sigma - now called Sigma Solutions - and in the late ‘90s he took on a major project in upgrading the software for internet use. He went to Aurora Community College to brush up his programming skills and excelled at his classes. His perseverance modernized the software and kept Sigma Software relevant.

In later years Bill continued to operate Sigma Solutions. He also loved to garden, engage in politics and watch movies on Turner Classic Movies. He especially loved spending time with his grandchildren visiting the Botanic Gardens, going to movies and museums and playing cards and board games. He attended First Universalist Church of Denver for 10 years.

He is survived by his daughter, Mandi Everett, her children, daughter Nancy Grace Everett, 14, Aaron Jeremiah Everett, 10, and his sister Pearl Eldredge of Sioux Falls, SD. Services will take place Saturday, September 9 at 5 p.m. at First Universalist Church of Denver, 4101 E. Hampden Ave., Denver, CO 80222.