Remembering Bill

Over the Bar by Dick Wagner, from Shavings, Fall, 2012, the newsletter of the Center for Wooden Boats (CWB)

Bill Biddle enthusiastically introduced himself to CWB when he arrived at our Boathouse and said, “Where’s Jerry Stelmok?”. A canoe-building workshop was just about to start and Jerry Stelmok of Maine was the instructor. Bill didn’t want to join the class. He already owned several traditional canvas-on-wood canoes. He just wanted Jerry to know how welcome he was in the Northwest and at the CWB.

Bill was a teacher of living a full life. He glowed with revelations of whatever place he currently was. To Bill, everything seen, heard or smelled was poetry and everyone he met was part of the wonders of life and his best friend.

Every year at CWB’s Auction, when his canoe and hiking trips at Lake Ozette on the Olympic Peninsula were bid on by so many people, he took them all under his wing. The auction attendees were eager to be with Bill and his exuberance. The proceeds went to CWB and to Seattle Academy, where he taught English, history and gave camping expeditions. As Bill often said, “This moment right now will never happen again. This is my summer.”