William “Bill” Wilson

William “Bill” J. Wilson, 84, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, July 10, surrounded by his family. Bill was hard-working, generous, funny and tender-hearted. He was loved dearly by many and will be greatly missed.

Bill was preceded in death by his parents, Roy and Martha; his brothers, David and Richard; and his sister, Mary.

He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Judy; his 2 sisters, Carol and Darlene; his 8 children, Laura (Steve), Chris (Cathy), Tom, Julie (Sean), Jim (Holly), Brian (Amanda), Andy (Bridgette) and Virginia (Nathan); 27 grandchildren; 21 great grandchildren with 2 more on the way; numerous extended family members; and many friends.

Bill was born on April 30, 1940, in Covington, Kentucky. He grew up in Erlanger, where his father co-owned and operated Koenig & Wilson, the local meat market and grocery store. He attended St. Henry Grade School and graduated from St. Henry High School in 1958, where he made lifelong friends and met the love of his life, Judy Terlau.

In 1962 Bill graduated from Villa Madonna College with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and was accepted into the U.S. Navy’s Officer Candidate School (OCS). That same year, on June 9, Bill and Judy were married at Mary Queen of Heaven Church in Erlanger. After a brief honeymoon Bill left for Newport, Rhode Island, to start his OCS training, and Judy joined him soon after. It was there, in a boarding house on Purgatory Road, that the newlywed couple from Erlanger began their adventure together.

Over the next 10 years, that adventure took them to several naval bases throughout the country, including Eleuthera in the Bahamas; Pensacola, FL; Jacksonville, FL; Corpus Christi, TX; San Diego, CA; and Mountain View, CA. Bill loved the Navy. He excelled academically and trained in the state-of-the-art aviation, navigation and SOSUS technologies used in the Cold War era to track Soviet submarines worldwide. His type of work (as a tactical coordinator on a P-3C Orion anti-submarine patrol aircraft) was highly classified at the time, but the Navy’s submarine tracking of that era is now well known and detailed in Tom Clancy’s 1984 novel The Hunt for Red October.

Bill and Judy left the Navy in 1972 and returned to Northern Kentucky with their growing family. Bill, who had learned to lay brick from Judy’s dad while working his way through college, started a masonry business and quickly earned a reputation for quality craftsmanship and honest dealings. Of all the buildings he and his crew built in the area, he was most proud of the intricate brickwork and artistry they were able to express in St. Cecelia Catholic Church in Independence.

There are many attributes Bill’s friends and family enjoyed about him—his optimism, his strength, his compassion, his perseverance in the face of setbacks—but perhaps most beloved were his sharp wit and wonderful sense of humor. He loved using idioms and sharing jokes, and he could drop a one-liner that caught you off guard and captured the humor of the moment perfectly.

Bill was devoted to his family and to his community. He was especially committed to his AA family, who he leaned on to get sober and stay that way for over 35 years—and paid it forward by helping countless others in the program along the way.

In retirement, Bill never really slowed down. He had nearly every joint in his body replaced by the time he left this Earth but stayed active by driving the sick and elderly to their doctor appointments with BAWAC, mentoring young bricklayers learning the trade, staying active with AA, and working with Judy to grow beautiful flowers around their home.

Bill was a spiritual man who found meaning in literature, music, philosophy, his AA practice, and his Catholic faith. He lived his faith to the end—making a difference where he could, accepting with grace whatever came his way (including his recent cancer diagnosis), and trusting in a power greater than himself to steer his life. He considered himself abundantly blessed and wanted to give back. In a final act of service, Bill donated his body to the University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine.

A memorial Mass will be held at 10:00am on Saturday, August 17, at St. Barbara Catholic Church, 4042 Turkeyfoot Road, Erlanger, KY. The family will be available at the church for visitation from 9:00-10:00am. Immediately following Mass, the U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guard will honor Bill. Thereafter, Bill’s family invites everyone to the Sterling Event Center at St. Barbara for a lunch reception to celebrate his life.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital or a charity of your choosing.