School Story
Bill spent his elementary years in the Allapattah section of Miami near the old Embry-Riddle School not from the airport. The family moved to Hialeah (West 49th St) in 1955. After graduation, Bill went to Mars Hill College (Asheville, NC) for one year. While there, he applied for an appointment to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, and was accepted. During his academy sea-year training, he worked as a cadet aboard merchant ships visiting ports in such foreign countries as Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Spain, Lebanon, Egypt, Germany, England, France, German, Denmark, Poland, Tunisia, Morocco, Japan, Indonesia, Philippines, and Texas. Following graduation from the Academy in 1964, Bill sailed as a licensed engineering officer on ships carrying cargo to Vietnam, spending a lot of time in Saigon, Danang, Qui Non, and Cam Rahn Bay. In 1966 Bill quit sailing, got married, and went to work for the U.S. Navy designing ship steam propulsion plants. His Navy nuclear steam plant experience got him a job at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 1980 shortly after the Three Mile Island accident. Bill retired from the NRC in 2001 and is enjoying retirement.
