For Bill in NH California

I can't remember exactly when "Bill in New Hampshire" first started commenting on this blog. I think it was about 2½ years ago. If you've been reading the blog and the comments for a while, you surely know him. His were the comments that often made you — or me, anyway — laugh out loud. They were always good-natured and sensible. The humor never felt forced and was generously shared.

"Bill in NH" on his 2009 visit to Saint-Aignan

Bill became "Bill in California" a year or more ago, when he and his wife Mary moved from NH to Modesto to be closer to family. They had lived in California, including in the SF Bay Area, way back when, for 20 years. He was happy to be back there, and wrote in an e-mail:

"Well, we've gotten mostly settled in but I still quiver and cower at the sight of a cardboard box. We couldn't have done it without the help of our children and grandchildren. It's being a lot of fun being this close to them; we've always all hit it off well with each other with much humor involved. Giggling with bright teenagers makes Grandpère feel young again."

Bill in California sent me this a few months ago, captioned
"Best product award for the 350th year in a row...."

Bill had also traveled to France several times over the years, including a trip to Saint-Aignan a long time ago, evidently. In the summer of 2009, he wrote to me and said he wanted to return to Saint-Aignan and stay again in the Grand Hôtel down on the river. He wanted to meet me and Walt. Here's how he introduced himself, to prepare us for the visit:

"It seems unfair that I know so much about you whereas you know almost nothing about me. In very brief, I'm a 69-year-old retired software developer who grew up in Minnesota, spent 20 years in California, 3 years in Boston, 2 years in Edinburgh, and now 18 years in balmy New Hampshire. I'm an affable geezer who loves France. My first visit was a business trip in about 1965 to Paris. I should have just stayed there. I have no criminal record as long as you don't count 'creating a public disturbance' while protesting at a Sarah Palin rally. If I had a religious affiliation it would be with the New England chapter of the Holy Moley Society. I spend much of my time now supporting a dog rescue group and vicariously living in France via the internet."

He took the train down from Paris in September and we picked him up at the gare d'Onzain. We had lunch at a restaurant called L'Herbe Rouge in the village called Valaire — here's a link to the post I wrote about it.

Walt and Bill after lunch at our house in mid-September 2009.

Bill loved France, dogs, and wine, he told us. How could we not hit it off? And his humor. Here's an example of a joke he sent us:

An Englishman, a Scotsman, an Irishman, a Welshman, a Gurkha, a Latvian, a Turk, an Aussie, a German, a Yank, an Egyptian, a Japanese, a Mexican, a Spaniard, a Russian, a Pole, a Lithuanian, a Swede, a Finn, an Israeli, a Romanian, a Bulgarian, a Serb, a Swiss, a Greek, a Singaporean, an Italian, a Norwegian, a Libyan, a Muslim, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Zulu, an Indabele, a Xhosa, an Afrikaner, and an Ethiopian walk into a night club.

The bouncer says, "Sorry, I can't let you in without a Thai."

Groan. LOL. Before the trip, he asked me for copies of a few of the photos of Callie the Collie that I had posted here over the months and years. As I knew he loved dogs, I didn't think much about it. When Bill came to Saint-Aignan, he brought us this set of photos that he had had printed and framed for us. They hang on a wall downstairs now.

When our friend Jean-Luc died here in Saint-Aignan a month or two after Bill's visit, I think I wrote something about how my father died suddenly in his sleep at age 64. Bill told me in an e-mail:

"My father also died suddenly, at age 59, of a stroke. He was on an airplane and had just finished sharing a joke with a friend. After a few moments his friend looked over and he was dead, still with a smile on his face. That's what I'd like."

And that is what has happened. I got an e-mail day before yesterday from Bill's wife Mary telling me that Bill died suddenly last Friday, August 12. He was 71. He had been in declining health for a while. I'll always remember him with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. I wish he had been able to bring his family and friends to France for one more trip, as he told me he dreamed of doing. He asked us if we knew of a big gîte near Saint-Aignan that could accommodate a crowd.

That's not going to happen now. I'm just glad he had the gumption to tell us he was coming to Saint-Aignan back in 2009 and that he wanted to meet us and (I think especially) Callie. I'll miss his e-mails and his comments. Rest in peace, Bill.