Bill meant more to his family than he ever understood. Please join us as we celebrate his life on Thursday, July 13th from 2:00 - 4:00pm for calling hours and Friday, July 14th at 3:00pm for a memorial service at the Garner Funeral Home, in Potsdam NY which will also be livestreamed. Memorial donations may be made to Meghan Nostrom, 2 Debra Drive - Apt E202; Potsdam, NY 13676. Condolences, fond memories, prayers and kind words for the Nostrom family may be made online at www.GarnerFH.com.
Bill loved people. He loved helping people and he loved working with people. He loved being a nurse practitioner and he especially loved being a father to each of his four boys. He loved his people, and at the end of the day, what mattered most to Bill was that he was a good guy for his people. This might have been his greatest struggle - believing that he really was good enough.
Bill recently compared himself to Ove, a curmudgeonly, cantankerous old man who proudly still knew how to use an allen wrench and the importance of chewing quietly when eating. Ove had said of life, “A time [...] comes for every man, when he chooses what sort of man he wants to be. And if you don't know the story, you don't know the man.” Bill was a man with a story. A long story with funny chapters and adventurous chapters and love-filled chapters, but also a story with some very difficult chapters that he simply struggled to carry. We wish he knew that, despite his own idea of himself, he really was the man we wanted him to be - and a very, very good guy.
Bill was willing to try just about anything - he raised Highland cows, befriended chickens, and kept a secret tarantula. He opened a specialty coffee shop, named it after his three oldest sons (Jernabi), and started a business that thrives today. He joined the service, volunteered in Africa, and helped to take down the Berlin Wall. He played the trumpet, golf, a mean game of Cribbage, and some very funny pranks. He sang and danced and acted and voted. He loved Dr. Who, Star Wars, Monty Python, Weird Al, Jimmy Buffet, and Mr. Bean. Bill was never afraid to try.
Bill loved the North Country, but his Boston roots ran deep. He was born in Lowell Massachusetts, and lived the first few years of his life in Chelmsford. At an early age his family moved to Nottingham, New Hampshire where they built a log cabin and started a small farm. A few years later, to further their farming work, his family moved to Burke, New York to a dairy farm. Despite the move north, Bill remained a steadfast fan of Boston sports, Massachusetts culture, and New England food. He visited family in Massachusetts each year and loved going to Red Sox games way before Yaz retired and Sweet Caroline was born. He could swap an “r” for an “ah” like a boss. He wore his Chuck Taylors to work, his Red Sox shirts to bed, and his wicked pissah lobstah bib whenevah he ate his chowdah.
Bill is survived by his wife, Meghan, their son Levi, and step-son Theo; his former wife, Annette Goswami and their children, Billy (Alyssa) Nostrom, Nathan Nostrom (Alexia Huto), and Jeremiah Nostrom; his grandchildren Adelyn, William, and Wyatte; his parents Pamela Tyler and William Nostrom and stepmom, Gail Nostrom; his siblings Kristan Fiore, Greg Nostrom, Gary Nostrom, Andrew Nostrom, Sonja Nagel, and Peter Nostrom; his loving uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, friends; and one very fluffy dog named, Phoebe.
