Necrology
William Wilson '50
Mar. 30, 1927-Oct. 16, 2022
William Wilson ’50, P’75 died in Worcester, Mass., on Oct. 16, 2022. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 30, 1927, he immigrated as an infant with his family to Niagara Falls, N.Y., where he grew up. Shortly after graduating from Niagara Falls High School in 1945, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was assigned to the USS Taylor, a Fletcher-class destroyer that had seen much action in the Pacific Theater during World War II. When Bill went on board, it was anchored at San Diego, and his assignment, he later recalled, was “putting her in drydock.”
Discharged in 1946, Bill took advantage of an initiative of the War Department to create two-year colleges to provide educational opportunities to veterans who were denied admission at existing schools due to overcrowding. He enrolled at Sampson College, one of three colleges making up the Associated Colleges of Upper New York, for the 1946-47 academic year. He matriculated at Hamilton in the fall of 1947.
On the Hill, Bill majored in mathematics and education and was a member of the Emerson Literary Society. He played lacrosse during his three years at the College and was elected co-captain as a senior. He also was a member of the staff of what was then the College’s humor magazine, The Royal Gaboon, in both his junior and senior years and was elected to the Honor Court in his final year.
Upon graduating Bill married Lois Reisig, whom he had known since high school. They later had a son and two daughters. Together, they made their way to Philadelphia where he pursued a master’s degree in education at the University of Pennsylvania, completing the program in 1951. Bill and Lois then moved to Croghan, N.Y., where he taught high school mathematics at the Beaver River Central School for four years.
In September 1955, Bill returned to the Hill to become assistant secretary of admissions, working for Sidney Bennett, Class of 1928. As he described it at the time, the job entailed his “putting Hamilton’s name before promising students in the New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New England schools, assisting with the initial screening of candidates, [and] generally seeking out better boys for Hamilton.”
His stay at Hamilton was short. In 1956, he began working in Utica for General Electric Co. as a statistical engineering analyst and was later transferred to Syracuse. In 1970, he left GE and Central New York to join the New York State Department of Tax and Finance (DFT) in Albany where he was employed for 20 years, retiring in 1990 as bureau director. He and his family lived in nearby Schenectady.
Bill was a member of the St. Andrew’s Society, an organization that brings together Scottish-Americans to support various charitable initiatives. He also was a member of the Tax Alumni Club, a social organization for those who worked for the DFT, and several German and Swiss clubs. During the holiday season, he volunteered with the Salvation Army.
Bill and Lois liked to travel and in retirement they made many trips to Scotland, England, Switzerland, and Germany, the latter two countries being home to Lois’s ancestors. Bill also loved to ski and, with his family and friends, traveled to nine states, as well as Europe, Canada, and New Zealand in search of new slopes, even during his 90th year.
Summers found the Wilsons camping and fishing. The Adirondacks were where they hiked, including the 135-mile Northville-Lake Placid Trail that took them into the remote parts of those mountains. Bill was also an Adirondack 46er (#2299), meaning that he had climbed the region’s 46 highest peaks.
Bill was a regular donor to the College’s Hamilton Fund and served on his class’s reunion gift and class committees. He also volunteered in connection with the 175th Anniversary Capital Campaign. Bill summed up his time on the Hill quite simply in his 40th reunion yearbook: “Good Teachers, Good Friends, Good Times.”
William Wilson is survived by his son Peter B. Wilson ’75, two daughters, eight grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. His wife predeceased him by just 11 months.
