He was born in Culver in a house on East Washington Street on January 4, 1918 at 3:10 p.m. (attending physician was Dr. C.L. Slonaker). His family soon moved to 223 S Main Street, near the BWS Wiseman household (his grandparents') at 311 S Main Street. He attended Culver Community Schools and graduated in the class of 1936.
He was the leader of his own jazz band, beginning in 1934, playing at local functions in Culver. His involvement in leading his own bands continued into the 1950s, and then picked up again in his twilight years.
His early employment was with the James I. Barnes Construction Company based in Logansport. Easterday Construction Co. in Culver was a subsidiary of Barnes, with Russell L. Easterday as the foreman.
In the early 1940s, he became a welder with Edwards Iron Works in South Bend, and then at the Kingsbury Ordnance Plant near La Porte.
He entered the US Army in 1943 and received training at Camp Beale (immediately east of Beale Air Base in northern California). He served as a cook during World War II, 558th Ordinance Battalion (tank repair) in the Pacific Theater in Borneo and the Philippines [see memorial for Carl E. Ellett, another Hoosier he served with]. When he returned in 1945, he married Edna Marie Johanna Tetzloff on July 11, 1945.
He and Edna soon purchased the home at 505 E Lake Shore Drive, a two-story concrete block home with a full basement. It was more home than they needed, but they planed to grow a family. Meanwhile they rented the upstairs of the home to Wendell "Vance" Albert and his wife, Marjorie, whom edna knew from her work at Culver Military Academy. In the 1950s, Bill and Edna expanded their family into the rest of the house, and the Alberts relocated to a home in Hibbard.
As Bill was a cook in the Army, he put his meat cutting skills to use at Quality Grocery on Main Street in Culver for many years in the 1940s and 1950s. He eventually became an insurance adjuster for Farm Bureau Insurance.
In January 1957, he purchased and operated the Culver News Agency at 108 S. Main Street in Culver. The store sold a variety of newspapers from Chicago, Indianapolis, South Bend, Plymouth, and Culver, as well as a large selection of magazines, paperback books, comic books and Norcross Greeting Cards, Sealtest Ice Cream, Fanny Mae Candies, Kodak film and processing, cigarettes, and a variety of cigars kept fresh in a humidor cabinet. He maintained a small photo studio in the rear of the store and specialized in black and white portraiture and children's photographs. Depending on the wishes of the client, some of his photographs were colorized by his wife, Edna. Edna also performed the bookkeeping for the store. In addition to the store studio, his living room was often converted to a studio with strobe flash and a backdrop, as families would come to have their portraits taken.
In the eastern end of the store, a jeweler, Harold Forster, operated a watch and clock shop (a partitioned structure built within the Culver News Agency), and sold an assortment of rings and necklaces as well.
In the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, Bill also had his own dance band, The Riverboat 5, with Bill on drums and vocals. The band would travel to local dance venues in Bass Lake and also in the South Bend area. In later years after retirement, he would occasionally return to the drum kit for ad hoc performances by a group known as The Cardiac Kids, consisting of local mature performers who had each been cardiac patients.
He was the leader of his own jazz band, beginning in 1934, playing at local functions in Culver. His involvement in leading his own bands continued into the 1950s, and then picked up again in his twilight years.
His early employment was with the James I. Barnes Construction Company based in Logansport. Easterday Construction Co. in Culver was a subsidiary of Barnes, with Russell L. Easterday as the foreman.
In the early 1940s, he became a welder with Edwards Iron Works in South Bend, and then at the Kingsbury Ordnance Plant near La Porte.
He entered the US Army in 1943 and received training at Camp Beale (immediately east of Beale Air Base in northern California). He served as a cook during World War II, 558th Ordinance Battalion (tank repair) in the Pacific Theater in Borneo and the Philippines [see memorial for Carl E. Ellett, another Hoosier he served with]. When he returned in 1945, he married Edna Marie Johanna Tetzloff on July 11, 1945.
He and Edna soon purchased the home at 505 E Lake Shore Drive, a two-story concrete block home with a full basement. It was more home than they needed, but they planed to grow a family. Meanwhile they rented the upstairs of the home to Wendell "Vance" Albert and his wife, Marjorie, whom edna knew from her work at Culver Military Academy. In the 1950s, Bill and Edna expanded their family into the rest of the house, and the Alberts relocated to a home in Hibbard.
As Bill was a cook in the Army, he put his meat cutting skills to use at Quality Grocery on Main Street in Culver for many years in the 1940s and 1950s. He eventually became an insurance adjuster for Farm Bureau Insurance.
In January 1957, he purchased and operated the Culver News Agency at 108 S. Main Street in Culver. The store sold a variety of newspapers from Chicago, Indianapolis, South Bend, Plymouth, and Culver, as well as a large selection of magazines, paperback books, comic books and Norcross Greeting Cards, Sealtest Ice Cream, Fanny Mae Candies, Kodak film and processing, cigarettes, and a variety of cigars kept fresh in a humidor cabinet. He maintained a small photo studio in the rear of the store and specialized in black and white portraiture and children's photographs. Depending on the wishes of the client, some of his photographs were colorized by his wife, Edna. Edna also performed the bookkeeping for the store. In addition to the store studio, his living room was often converted to a studio with strobe flash and a backdrop, as families would come to have their portraits taken.
In the eastern end of the store, a jeweler, Harold Forster, operated a watch and clock shop (a partitioned structure built within the Culver News Agency), and sold an assortment of rings and necklaces as well.
In the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, Bill also had his own dance band, The Riverboat 5, with Bill on drums and vocals. The band would travel to local dance venues in Bass Lake and also in the South Bend area. In later years after retirement, he would occasionally return to the drum kit for ad hoc performances by a group known as The Cardiac Kids, consisting of local mature performers who had each been cardiac patients.
He was born in Culver in a house on East Washington Street on January 4, 1918 at 3:10 p.m. (attending physician was Dr. C.L. Slonaker). His family soon moved to 223 S Main Street, near the BWS Wiseman household (his grandparents') at 311 S Main Street. He attended Culver Community Schools and graduated in the class of 1936.
He was the leader of his own jazz band, beginning in 1934, playing at local functions in Culver. His involvement in leading his own bands continued into the 1950s, and then picked up again in his twilight years.
His early employment was with the James I. Barnes Construction Company based in Logansport. Easterday Construction Co. in Culver was a subsidiary of Barnes, with Russell L. Easterday as the foreman.
In the early 1940s, he became a welder with Edwards Iron Works in South Bend, and then at the Kingsbury Ordnance Plant near La Porte.
He entered the US Army in 1943 and received training at Camp Beale (immediately east of Beale Air Base in northern California). He served as a cook during World War II, 558th Ordinance Battalion (tank repair) in the Pacific Theater in Borneo and the Philippines [see memorial for Carl E. Ellett, another Hoosier he served with]. When he returned in 1945, he married Edna Marie Johanna Tetzloff on July 11, 1945.
He and Edna soon purchased the home at 505 E Lake Shore Drive, a two-story concrete block home with a full basement. It was more home than they needed, but they planed to grow a family. Meanwhile they rented the upstairs of the home to Wendell "Vance" Albert and his wife, Marjorie, whom edna knew from her work at Culver Military Academy. In the 1950s, Bill and Edna expanded their family into the rest of the house, and the Alberts relocated to a home in Hibbard.
As Bill was a cook in the Army, he put his meat cutting skills to use at Quality Grocery on Main Street in Culver for many years in the 1940s and 1950s. He eventually became an insurance adjuster for Farm Bureau Insurance.
In January 1957, he purchased and operated the Culver News Agency at 108 S. Main Street in Culver. The store sold a variety of newspapers from Chicago, Indianapolis, South Bend, Plymouth, and Culver, as well as a large selection of magazines, paperback books, comic books and Norcross Greeting Cards, Sealtest Ice Cream, Fanny Mae Candies, Kodak film and processing, cigarettes, and a variety of cigars kept fresh in a humidor cabinet. He maintained a small photo studio in the rear of the store and specialized in black and white portraiture and children's photographs. Depending on the wishes of the client, some of his photographs were colorized by his wife, Edna. Edna also performed the bookkeeping for the store. In addition to the store studio, his living room was often converted to a studio with strobe flash and a backdrop, as families would come to have their portraits taken.
In the eastern end of the store, a jeweler, Harold Forster, operated a watch and clock shop (a partitioned structure built within the Culver News Agency), and sold an assortment of rings and necklaces as well.
In the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, Bill also had his own dance band, The Riverboat 5, with Bill on drums and vocals. The band would travel to local dance venues in Bass Lake and also in the South Bend area. In later years after retirement, he would occasionally return to the drum kit for ad hoc performances by a group known as The Cardiac Kids, consisting of local mature performers who had each been cardiac patients.
He was the leader of his own jazz band, beginning in 1934, playing at local functions in Culver. His involvement in leading his own bands continued into the 1950s, and then picked up again in his twilight years.
His early employment was with the James I. Barnes Construction Company based in Logansport. Easterday Construction Co. in Culver was a subsidiary of Barnes, with Russell L. Easterday as the foreman.
In the early 1940s, he became a welder with Edwards Iron Works in South Bend, and then at the Kingsbury Ordnance Plant near La Porte.
He entered the US Army in 1943 and received training at Camp Beale (immediately east of Beale Air Base in northern California). He served as a cook during World War II, 558th Ordinance Battalion (tank repair) in the Pacific Theater in Borneo and the Philippines [see memorial for Carl E. Ellett, another Hoosier he served with]. When he returned in 1945, he married Edna Marie Johanna Tetzloff on July 11, 1945.
He and Edna soon purchased the home at 505 E Lake Shore Drive, a two-story concrete block home with a full basement. It was more home than they needed, but they planed to grow a family. Meanwhile they rented the upstairs of the home to Wendell "Vance" Albert and his wife, Marjorie, whom edna knew from her work at Culver Military Academy. In the 1950s, Bill and Edna expanded their family into the rest of the house, and the Alberts relocated to a home in Hibbard.
As Bill was a cook in the Army, he put his meat cutting skills to use at Quality Grocery on Main Street in Culver for many years in the 1940s and 1950s. He eventually became an insurance adjuster for Farm Bureau Insurance.
In January 1957, he purchased and operated the Culver News Agency at 108 S. Main Street in Culver. The store sold a variety of newspapers from Chicago, Indianapolis, South Bend, Plymouth, and Culver, as well as a large selection of magazines, paperback books, comic books and Norcross Greeting Cards, Sealtest Ice Cream, Fanny Mae Candies, Kodak film and processing, cigarettes, and a variety of cigars kept fresh in a humidor cabinet. He maintained a small photo studio in the rear of the store and specialized in black and white portraiture and children's photographs. Depending on the wishes of the client, some of his photographs were colorized by his wife, Edna. Edna also performed the bookkeeping for the store. In addition to the store studio, his living room was often converted to a studio with strobe flash and a backdrop, as families would come to have their portraits taken.
In the eastern end of the store, a jeweler, Harold Forster, operated a watch and clock shop (a partitioned structure built within the Culver News Agency), and sold an assortment of rings and necklaces as well.
In the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, Bill also had his own dance band, The Riverboat 5, with Bill on drums and vocals. The band would travel to local dance venues in Bass Lake and also in the South Bend area. In later years after retirement, he would occasionally return to the drum kit for ad hoc performances by a group known as The Cardiac Kids, consisting of local mature performers who had each been cardiac patients.
Inscription
MARRIED JULY 11, 1945
