Bill remained a good friend after McQuaid; during & after his Williams College days. Unfortunately those days after college were too few in number. He died of hypothermia while on a hiking trip in western Canada. His slender build was not a good match for the unforecasted wet and snowy weather he encountered there deep in the woods. Bill was always one to seek out an adventure and he made the most of those days he had with us. A great guy who has been sorely missed.
Bill was a great classmate at McQuaid. He was kind and thoughtful and would laugh at any joke one would tell him. I remember being shocked, stunned and amazed to hear he died not long after we all graduated from McQuaid - the first of our classmates to pass away. I will never forget his smile - radiant!
Bill, indeed, was a great guy; gregarious, sincere, marched to his own drummer. He had an apartment on Goodman Street and used to cook hamburgs for friends and family. The hamburgers were so small everyone kidded him and called them "teeny burgers". I think Bill was just ahead of his time and invented the "slider". Just before Bill passed away on his ill-fated camping trip he paid me a visit and asked if he could borrow my tent and sleeping bag. He had organized and just completed the "Hike for Clean Water" in the Rochester area and was in need of re-charging his batteries. After the funeral, Bill's Mom, Kay, asked me if I would like to have Bill's new Hickey-Freeman suit. I gladly accepted, and was very honored to wear it for the next several years.
As several of you know, I was with Bill on the ill-fated widerness camping trip on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. We were at the midpoint of our two week trip when after two straight days of a cold rain he succumbed to hypothermia in the middle of the night on Saturday, October 18, 1975. After hiking over the next day and a half, I fortunately came upon a logging company surveyor who summoned the RCMP. Once they retrieved his body by military helicopter the next day, I contacted my parents who drove to the McGraws to inform them of what had happened. On the following day I returned to Rochester to the love of my family and his parents, Bill Sr. and Kay, and sister and brother in law, Kathy and Jim Growney.
I first met Bill's parents during the first week of Summer vacation after our Freshmen year, and was immediately struck by how warm and outgoing they were to me and all of Bill's friends. As my friendship with Bill grew over the years, so did my relationship with his family. When Bill died, my family came together with his in grief and remained very close thereafter. The McGraw/Growney family was absolutely loving to my wife, Rachel, and me; they treated me like I was their own son and they fell in love with Rachel from the first time they met her. We always shared happy times together whenever we returned to Rochester and, after Kay died, Bill Sr. even came out to our home in San Francisco to spend a few days with Rachel and me.
Bill was a very close and dear friend over the entirety of the too few years of our friendship. More than anything else, I was attracted to his genuineness. He was his own person and was very real because of that attribute. Those that did not know him well may have thought him to be a bit odd or quirky, because HE WAS! But that was what made you love him. We would call him McGoo, or Goo for short, which would transform readily to McGoof or Goof. Many warm and wonderful memories of the Goo from that first day at McQuaid when he strode into 1C over an hour late! He was one of a kind; a great, great friend!
Bill and I were the co captains of the McQuaid “famous “swim team. He was a great swimmer and good friend. We had a lot of great conversations about life after swim practice .We did not keep in touch after HS as I was down in West Virginia for College and then off to the USMC . It was really tough going to his funeral and meeting his family .Quite the shock knowing a classmate left us so early.
What guy, Bill was. One of my fondest memories was of him during our summer trip to France with the Foreign Language League in 1967. Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was all the rage that year, so at a dance, Bill, Pete Shea, me and two or three others dressed ourselves up in the wildest costumes we could and lip synced the night away to a blaring stereo pumping out the album. Bill was "Ringo Starr," and I can still see that crooked smile of his as he played "air drums," obviously enjoying the silliness thoroughly. God bless him. Rest in peace, Bill.
Bill Spies
Bill remained a good friend after McQuaid; during & after his Williams College days. Unfortunately those days after college were too few in number. He died of hypothermia while on a hiking trip in western Canada. His slender build was not a good match for the unforecasted wet and snowy weather he encountered there deep in the woods. Bill was always one to seek out an adventure and he made the most of those days he had with us. A great guy who has been sorely missed.
Tom Herlehy
Bill was a great classmate at McQuaid. He was kind and thoughtful and would laugh at any joke one would tell him. I remember being shocked, stunned and amazed to hear he died not long after we all graduated from McQuaid - the first of our classmates to pass away. I will never forget his smile - radiant!
Kevin Dwyer
Bill, indeed, was a great guy; gregarious, sincere, marched to his own drummer. He had an apartment on Goodman Street and used to cook hamburgs for friends and family. The hamburgers were so small everyone kidded him and called them "teeny burgers". I think Bill was just ahead of his time and invented the "slider". Just before Bill passed away on his ill-fated camping trip he paid me a visit and asked if he could borrow my tent and sleeping bag. He had organized and just completed the "Hike for Clean Water" in the Rochester area and was in need of re-charging his batteries. After the funeral, Bill's Mom, Kay, asked me if I would like to have Bill's new Hickey-Freeman suit. I gladly accepted, and was very honored to wear it for the next several years.
Bill Cutler
As several of you know, I was with Bill on the ill-fated widerness camping trip on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. We were at the midpoint of our two week trip when after two straight days of a cold rain he succumbed to hypothermia in the middle of the night on Saturday, October 18, 1975. After hiking over the next day and a half, I fortunately came upon a logging company surveyor who summoned the RCMP. Once they retrieved his body by military helicopter the next day, I contacted my parents who drove to the McGraws to inform them of what had happened. On the following day I returned to Rochester to the love of my family and his parents, Bill Sr. and Kay, and sister and brother in law, Kathy and Jim Growney.
I first met Bill's parents during the first week of Summer vacation after our Freshmen year, and was immediately struck by how warm and outgoing they were to me and all of Bill's friends. As my friendship with Bill grew over the years, so did my relationship with his family. When Bill died, my family came together with his in grief and remained very close thereafter. The McGraw/Growney family was absolutely loving to my wife, Rachel, and me; they treated me like I was their own son and they fell in love with Rachel from the first time they met her. We always shared happy times together whenever we returned to Rochester and, after Kay died, Bill Sr. even came out to our home in San Francisco to spend a few days with Rachel and me.
Bill was a very close and dear friend over the entirety of the too few years of our friendship. More than anything else, I was attracted to his genuineness. He was his own person and was very real because of that attribute. Those that did not know him well may have thought him to be a bit odd or quirky, because HE WAS! But that was what made you love him. We would call him McGoo, or Goo for short, which would transform readily to McGoof or Goof. Many warm and wonderful memories of the Goo from that first day at McQuaid when he strode into 1C over an hour late! He was one of a kind; a great, great friend!
Jim Brunson
Bill and I were the co captains of the McQuaid “famous “swim team. He was a great swimmer and good friend. We had a lot of great conversations about life after swim practice .We did not keep in touch after HS as I was down in West Virginia for College and then off to the USMC . It was really tough going to his funeral and meeting his family .Quite the shock knowing a classmate left us so early.
Dave Decker
What guy, Bill was. One of my fondest memories was of him during our summer trip to France with the Foreign Language League in 1967. Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was all the rage that year, so at a dance, Bill, Pete Shea, me and two or three others dressed ourselves up in the wildest costumes we could and lip synced the night away to a blaring stereo pumping out the album. Bill was "Ringo Starr," and I can still see that crooked smile of his as he played "air drums," obviously enjoying the silliness thoroughly. God bless him. Rest in peace, Bill.