Remembering Bill

Email by Jay Mead from Holderness School sent to Bill’s son Bob

Bob, when I read that your dad had passed away, I was thrown into a series meditations and memories of what your father brought to my life. He was a huge influence on the kind of person I have turned out to be.

Here are some memories…I’ll never forget the snowshoe he and I took into Mt Moosilauke’s Joboldunc Ravine. We bush-whacked into the ravine, saw the old cabin D.O.C cabin, walked up the bowl to the headwall and observed the debris from an avalanche. I can still hear clearly the excitement in your dad’s voice when we were observing the little bits and pieces of the wild and extreme that we were able to gleam from the White mountains especially in winter.

On another occasion, we were winter camping at the base of Tuckerman’s Ravine. It was my first night winter camping, I was a freshman with a summer bag, spent the night shivering vowing to return next time with a proper winter bag. When the ice axe that was anchoring the east side of the tent gave way and went flying through the tent ripping 3′ gash in the roof of the tent, the wind was gusting to 100 mph and it was in the single digits with snow blowing everywhere, your dad restored my confidence and made what was a dicey situation into an adventure I revel in to this day. I believe it was your dad who fostered my love for extreme weather and surviving it. To this day I prefer to skin up mountains and find untracked powder stashes on my tele-skiis. I love nothing better than constructing igloos (when there is a deep snowpack, like in the Sierras, Cascades or Rockies) and reveling in the silence and beauty of the backcountry. Your dad planted this seed in me.

Your dad also gave some of us fortunate high schoolers a rare job opportunity. For a couple of summers he co-ordinated with the AMC trail-crew a Holderness School trail-crew. It was some of the hardest and most fulfilling work I have had ever done and I saw the Whites again in a way I had never seen before. This experience galvanized a type of work ethic that made any other job pale in comparison in terms of being physically demanding.

Your dad had amazing enthusiasm in the classroom, he truly seemed as jazzed about books as he was about the mountains. That enthusiasm was also infectious to us and some of his favorites are still favorites of mine, especially Farley Mowatt’s books. I believe some of my teaching style is based in part on the way I saw your father energize the classroom with his knowledge and love of the material he was teaching.

Finally I credit my journey to Dartmouth in part to your dad (he was an alum and especially loved the outing club). Thank goodness your dad was not a Dartmouth stereotype, he was someone I could relate to. Bill Biddle was out of the mainstream; I figured if it was good enough for Bill Biddle it would be good enough for me! If I had not gone to Dartmouth my life would have been vastly different. Some of my dearest friends including my wife, Edie, were part of that Dartmouth experience.

So Bob I have nothing but gratitude for your dad. I hope his final years were fulfilling and filled with adventures. Please share this note with your siblings. All the best to you. I am sorry for the loss of your dad. I lost my dad 12 years ago and I know this moment in your life is a profound one.

I feel so blessed to have known your dad. Hope you are well.