NEW CASTLE —
The real comedian of the Church family was my brother Bill. I don't know if I have ever heard him say anything sensible in my life.
When you would first meet him, his usual greeting was, "I'm Wild Bill from over the hill. Never drank and never will, unless I'm by myself or with somebody."
If you were a female, he would break into the song, "Oh, sweet mystery of life, at last I found you."
Brother Bill was a man of no fear. I remember one time back in the 1950s there was an air show at the New Castle airport.
They were going to have a guy parachute out of an airplane, but he didn't show up.
Wild Bill volunteered.
None of us knew about it until the phone rang that Sunday afternoon. It was Brother Bill.
Mom got on the phone and Bill asked, "Can you come and get me?"
Mom replied, "Where are you?"
Bill calmly said, "In the hospital."
It seems Bill was wearing his street shoes when he jumped, and broke his ankle upon landing.
I still have visions of him standing in the front of a funeral service, facing the crowd, and his fly was completely down.
Bill passed away a few years ago, but will never be forgotten by anyone that ever met him.
I'll end with a line he always said when the city of Ashtabula was mentioned.
His comment was, "Turn your face to me and your Ash -Ta -Beulah!"
Gary Church
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About Gary Church: Gary is a columnist and contributing writer for The News. He’ll share his thoughts on this blog each Tuesday and Friday.
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Gary Church: Wild Bill is now over the hill ... but certainly not forgotten
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