William J. Myers

        William Myers, of  Astoria, Queens was born on June 1, 1944 as the oldest of one other brother and two sisters in Pennsylvania. His father was a WWII Army Air Force veteran and his mother stayed at home. At some point within their lives but the kids were still young the entire family except for the younger brother John made their way to Woodside Houses in Queens where his sister Mildred stayed with the family for the rest of her life.

          Bill began to take an interest  in the trolley car lines that ran in several small towns in Pennsylvania.  Several of these trolley car lines were on their way to oblivion in the early 1960's as the public preferred the private automobile to public transportation. His interest was such that he began to draw, and then take pictures of the trolley cars before they were gone as well as the current public transit vehicles around him. Thus, he became known as "Trolley Car Bill" to a wide variety of fellow train and trolley car enthusiasts and more than a few of his "regular" friends.

          I should say here that I met BIll's sister Annie before I met Bill. I too, lived in the Woodside houses, on the same floor but across the hall from the Myers family. Bill's sister Annie was a great friend who thought nothing of playing softball with us guys on the nearby Bryant High School baseball field. Back in the 1970's most teenagers kept a baseball glove and bat in their homes. And Annie was a person who accepted everyone; she had a golden personality. So I trusted her enough to tell her of my own interest in trains and show her my photos. And instead of sneering and derision, she simply said "My brother does that" and soon after, I met her brother Bill Myers. Over time, Bill upgraded my photography, by loaning me a "stickshift" (all the setting were manual) 120 film sized camera.

          By this time Bill had moved out to an apartment in Astoria and was working at a photo developing company. In the 1970's and 1980's film photography was big business (think of the song "Kodachrome" sung by Paul Simon). Bill was single and carefree and he took hundreds of color slides. On my visits to his apartment I was amazed by the three and four foot high stacks of yellow Kodak slide boxes. Bill often took and made montage photos - these were color slides of different trains together, long  before there was  anything like photoshop or AI. At times, there were stacks of slide boxes in the bathroom! He never once thought about organizing his extensive collection, he was just carefree like that. He had the same gentle and accepting personality as his sister Annie. With Bill and Annie the people around them always took time to smile and return a greeting, even if they were ready to fight with someone else.

Unfortunately Annie died in the 1980's.

          But for all of Bill's travels and photography, for all the train excursions and MESTA meetings (a train enthusiasts' club which Bill helped found) the defining moment of Bill to me was this.

Years ago he was at the Bound Brook, New Jersey train station (today's New Jersey Transit) and there were no trains around. Just train tracks and quiet. Bill was able to set up a camcorder on a tripod and he recorded a random bird that he was able to coax into his hand and feed. His calmness and gentleness was enough even for animals and birds to notice. I always thought that this was amazing for a person not trained to interact with animals.

          But if you knew Bill, you knew that man. You knew of his photography. You knew of his photos when you saw them published in the train magazines. You knew of his often whimsical drawings of trolleys and trains. And you smiled.

          Later in life, Bill's carefree attitude unfortunately extended into his personal healthcare. He was a diabetic and he lost his foot to that disease. This was really a problem for BIll as his apartment in Astoria was a fifth floor walkup without any elevators. His sister Mildred, who was still living in the Woodside houses, came to his aid. Bill had to go into an assisted living situation and that meant the loss of most of his photography collection. Milly had her own health problems and at times she ignored her problems to take care of Bill. But Bill went on with his life, hanging in there and trading slides with myself and others, doing whatever he could from a hospital bed. Bill even arranged to have some small Christmas presents delivered to his caretakers this past holiday season.

          But unfortunately Milly passed away in December. This struck Bill hard. He told me that her death was as hard upon him as Annie's death years ago. When Bill weathered a heart attack in January of this year I wanted to tell him that God had a plan for him. But Bill passed away on February 18, 2025.

          He will join the rest of his family in a common gravesite back to their home in Pennsylvania. 

          I wish all the best to Annie, Milly, and Bill.

Torin Reid

William was Laid to rest Thursday, March 6, 2025 from at Sunnyside Cemetery Road, Sunnyside Cemetery Rd, Pennsylvania, PA 17372.