Lost his battle with The Beast – Cancer - at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital on July 12, 2012 in his 86th year. Predeceased by his beloved firstborn toddler Robert Duncan, Bill is survived by his wife Adeline (Lynn, nee Landry) with whom he celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this year, his daughters Dawn Essoe and Maureen Horner, his grandchildren Alexandra and Jake Essoe of Los Angeles, CA, his sister Helen Veal of Amarillo, TX and his adored pets: dog Buckley and cat Herbie.
'Wild Bill' was a true individual: intrepid, inquisitive, and frequently indomitable. Like his favourite, 'Ol'Blue Eyes', he did It his way. Never much of a student, he often joked that his Grade 9 English teacher had a crush on him because they were the same age. Saying a final farewell to school in favour of experiential learning, Bill joined the army at 17. That was followed by an Arctic stint with the RCMP, and other assorted pursuits until he joined External Affairs in the early 1950's. He spent the remainder of his career in embassies around the world.
'Wild Bill's' grandson dubbed him 'Forrest Gump' due to his uncanny knack for encountering history in the making. Whether he was going to the front lines of an African war with Trudeau, driving through a KGB-backed riot in Cairo, carrying news footage from Iran to London for Peter Jennings, on the streets of Santiago, Chile during a coup d'état, or trading one-liners with Bob Hope at Canada's Washington D.C. residence – Bill was in the thick of things. He was a sports enthusiast whose favourites were hockey, baseball and especially tennis - even though he didn't pick up a racket until he was 30. Bill really enjoyed his membership at Wallace Park, playing tennis and supporting the club until his knees gave out a couple of years ago. Of course, hockey was his first love - begun on the lakes of Dartmouth until he played his last league game at 72.
Through it all, 'Wild Bill' remained humble and thankful for the fact that by doing a job he loved, he and his family had been able to see the world. Ireland was for him a singular place, where the family made many trips in search of their roots. To the end, whenever he found himself in a particularly special circumstance, he would shake his head in disbelief and say, "Not bad for a kid from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia!" Rest in Peace, Wild Bill, now that you're with your dear Robert once more. A Celebration Reception will be held from 7-9 pm Thursday July 19, 2012 at the Kopriva Taylor Community Funeral Home, 64 Lakeshore Rd. W., Oakville ( one block east of Kerr St., 905-844-2600). In lieu of flowers, the family requests that a donation be made either to the Oakville Humane Society or to a charity of your choice.