William J. White

Bill was born in South Ozone Park, Queens, New York and moved upstate to Coxsackie in 1943 where he attended Coxsackie High School. In 1951, he graduated from Manhattan College having majored in Finance and Labor Management. He served stateside in the U.S. Army Finance Corps during the Korean conflict. In 1954, he married Mary Kathryn Kruse of Richmond Hill, NY, and settled in Coxsackie where he worked alongside his father as a salesman at the American Valve Manufacturing Corp, rising to serve as the firm’s General Manager. In 1984, Bill established a new business, Guardian Security Systems, Inc. and in 1985, purchased Corin Security, Inc. He retired in 1999.

With their growing family, Bill and Mary moved to Catskill in 1961 and raised four accomplished children in a beautiful, hundred-year-old estate home, Stillwood, on the banks of the Hudson River. A natural taskmaster, Bill never tired of concocting chores for his children who recall fondly, and with great humor, endless hours of lawn mowing, leaf raking, snow shoveling, fence painting, rock piling, and “holding the light.”

Starting as a young man in Coxsackie, Bill began a lifetime of public service and volunteerism by serving as the Charter President of the Junior Chamber of Commerce. Upon moving to Catskill, Bill continued to serve on numerous boards and commissions including the Village of Catskill Recreation Commission, was a founding member of the Greene County ARC, was Charter Chair of the Greene County Planning Board, served as President of the Board of Managers of the Memorial Hospital of Greene County, was Finance Chair of the School Board of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, and active in the Parents’ Council of St. Patrick’s Catholic Central High School. He was a Diocesan Representative on the N.Y.S. Federation of Catholic School Parents. Despite these endless hours of community service, Bill rarely missed any of his children’s school activities or sporting events.

In 2000, he and Mary downsized to Sleepy Hollow Lake, a small lakefront community north of Catskill, where he served on the Sleepy Hollow Lake Ballot and Election Committee and the Rules Committee. In 2005, he was appointed Chairman of the Coxsackie Town Planning Board. He volunteered at the Coxsackie Food Pantry and was an avid Bridge player. Ever the adventurer, Bill earned his Private Pilot’s License in 1983, and on his 85th birthday in 2011 lived out a lifelong dream of skydiving earning the moniker “Wild Bill.” Bill and Mary traveled extensively, both in the United States and on all seven continents, ambitiously seeking any opportunity to try a local delicacy. He enjoyed a good costume party, appeared as Puck in a London Elderhostel production, danced with Aboriginals in Australia, was a “background artist” in “War of the Worlds” featuring Tom Cruise. Simply put, Bill enjoyed his life to the fullest.

For several years, his daughter, Joey, had urged her parents to move to Colorado and in October of 2010 they said goodbye to friends and east coast family and moved to Longmont. Bill joined St. John the Baptist parish and became a volunteer at the Food Bank. He played Bridge at the Senior Center and also joined a Duplicate game in Loveland. After a few years, he started a Duplicate Bridge group in Longmont with four players. The group is still meeting on Fridays and has grown to seven tables of 28 players who care about the game and each other. With his wife, he became a Friend of the Longmont Museum and a participant in activities at the Senior Center.