William Crosbie Hunter III

William Crosbie Hunter, III (June15, 1943 - January 6, 2023). William “Bill” Crosbie Hunter passed away peacefully in the Seton Ascension ICU on January 6, 2023, after a struggle with aspiration pneumonia, a complication of Lewy Body Disease with Parkinsonism, diagnosed in 2020. By his side and nearby in the last few days of his life were his wife, Cynthia Hayes, sons Noah Grant Hunter and Aaron Ellinger Hunter, daughter-in-law Shiela Ladroma, his one year old grandson Joseph Ladroma Hunter, and friend of 35 years, Kay Trostle.

Bill loved being in the courtroom—so much so that a Travis County Judge, once reminded him, “Mr. Hunter, I think this is still my courtroom.” At the time of his death, Bill was a non-practicing member of the State Bar of Texas, licensed in 1978. He received his J.D. from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University. In Austin, he worked for the Secretary of State’s Office in election law from 1978-1979. From 1979-1981, he was as an Assistant Attorney General in the Transportation and Taxation Division, representing the Texas Department of Highways and Public Transportation. Bill was a sole practitioner in personal injury law from 1983-1993. He returned to the Attorney General’s Office in 1993 as an Assistant Attorney General and a proud member of the Financial Litigation Division, where he made lifelong friendships. He retired from the Financial Litigation Division and State service in July, 2007.

Bill was born in St. Louis, Missouri and spent his early years in a multi- generational brownstone as the only child of Alice “Babe” Grant Hunter and William Crosbie Hunter II.

There he was nurtured and raised by his parents and Aunts Eleanor, Mary, Kay, Great Aunts Josie, Mamie and his Grandfather James Elberg Grant. They watched Billy from the window as he went from the butcher, the baker to grocer to gather his lunch for his first years of elementary school. Teachers, who were not allowed to be married, Eleanor and Kay taught him everything, including how to identify the constellations and loyalty and love for family and friends.

Bill’s parents left St. Louis to move to Kansas City, Missouri as he entered the fourth grade. There he began lifelong friendships with the “Lost Boys”, most of whom lived in the Fairway neighborhood. They attended elementary school together and graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School in 1961. Some graduated from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, where Bill received his B.A. in 1965. In later years, the “Lost Boys” reunited for annual Lost Boys trips where they were tourists, enjoyed laughing and ribbing one another, and went off to their respective homes after a picnic where they discussed their next destination. The above photo of Bill taken by Jon Alexiou on The Lost Boys Trip, San Diego 2015, captures a pure moment of bliss and peace.

Bill and Cynthia treasured the “Fairway Rules” spring vacations at Jon Alexiou’s and Nancy Morton’s Miami home with Jack and Gloria Shearer—Greek meals prepared by Jon, resting on Jon’s orchid porch, touring Miami’s array of art museums and gardens, and the companionship of two men who Bill viewed as brothers.

Bill’s parents died weeks apart in December 1968, when Bill was 25 years of age. Aunts Eleanor, Mary, Kay, and Ruth Hunter Ellinger became their surrogates. In 1977, with his wife Toni and sons, Aaron and Noah, Bill moved from Cleveland, Ohio to Austin to be near his Aunt Ruth and many Ellinger cousins.

In their eighties, Bill moved his Aunts Eleanor and Mary from St. Louis to an apartment, one floor up from his apartment in The Penthouse on Guadalupe. He cared for them with the love and loyalty he had learned from them, walking home from the AG’s Office at lunch to check on them, taking them to Sunday Mass, and preparing dinner for the three of them.

As his sons Noah and Aaron grew up in Austin, Bill coached them in soccer and basketball, and gave them their first computer. He was a longtime college basketball fan and season ticket holder of Longhorn games. He loved March Madness and competing in pools with them, along with the voicemails or texts that would arrive during a Cleveland Browns or Longhorns games.

Bill was intellectually curious about almost everything, but especially the Pacific Northwest and First Nations peoples and culture, family genealogy, birding, and movies. He was a self-described Collector with his artwork, books, stereo system and CD collections among his most treasured possessions.

Bill and Cynthia were introduced to one another by Nancy Lynch. Their first date was Valentines Day 1999 to a rerun of “The Sweet Hereafter”. Their first trip together was to The Whidbey Island Inn. Cynthia was wowed when Bill drove up to this magical place that she had only seen as a longtime subscriber to Gourmet Magazine. Observing his devotion to his Aunts, meeting his expansive family at his Aunt Ruth’s home, sitting next to him in his prized seats at Austin Opera, at the movies, or in a convertible in the Pacific Northwest, Cynthia knew she had met the love of her life.

When they tired of carrying their pots and pans back and forth between her home in Wilshire Woods and his apartment on Guadalupe, they bought a home in West Lake Hills and married there on October 4, 2003. They adopted cats, and got up every morning asking one another, “What’s for dinner?” They continued Bill’s joy and exuberance for hosting family and friends holiday parties, including his favorite 4th of July swim party and the annual Oscar Night competition. Whenever he identified a constellation under the stars in their back yard, Bill would say, “Eleanor taught me that.”

Our family will be forever grateful to the EMTs and Paramedics in 78739 and 78746, and Seton Ascension Main ER and ICU medical teams for their dedication, compassion, and calm, reassuring medical intervention and care.

Bill and Cynthia thank Physical Therapist Cole Stutz, Spero Rehab, Circle C. Over the past three three years, Cole and the Spero Rehab Circle C family provided a clinical setting that was affirming and unwaveringly committed to Bill, medically and personally, up to the time he entered St. David’s on December 22. And as he did everywhere he went, Bill made friends at Spero.

Bill you have worked hard. You have practiced grace, courage and gratitude during the most difficult of times. Your family and friends will miss your loyalty and love.

A memorial service will be held 11:00 am Saturday, February 11, 2023 in the chapel at Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, 5416 Parkcrest Dr., Austin, Texas 78731.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.wcfishnorth.com for the Hunter family.