William Lyle "Bill" McDivitt III

Billy was always the guy that set my first "bar" in life. He was the best at everything to my young, impressionable mind. He could always win at `burnout´ when we played catch. Although Mike was pretty good, too. He was the first guy I knew of in Scouting. He joined the Koshares and when he became the head chief, I thought there was no limit to what he could achieve. He was the quintessential hero among my cousins. He was exceptional.
Today, I am privileged to know how truly exceptional he was. I admired the man even more as time went by.
When he told of the day when he and my cousin, Duke, turned a routine European vacation visit to East Berlin into a hectic day of Spy vs Spy. On the VERY day that Russia chose to close off the city. A move that would also spawn the Berlin airlift. They became accidental witnesses to a momentous event.
Billy had some interesting experiences, lived a wonderful life and I for one, admired and respected him greatly.
When I came back from the service, I got into over the road trucking for a while. He and Carol were always there for me to provide a safe place to sleep, shower and share a meal. He was always glad to see me and was always gracious in his hospitality.
Perhaps the only hatred in his life was for peas. His creativity in hiding them from Aunt Mabel was akin to magic. I once sat next to him at Sunday dinner where his plate was well populated with peas. During the meal, he was somehow able to thread nearly all of the peas onto the ribs of the chicken on his plate. I did not notice him doing this, but it absolutely did not pass the notice of my Aunt, who refused to allow him to be excused until he finished all of his "hidden" peas. They were absolutely well hidden! I sat right next to him and did not see a thing. Bill Was Amazing and I loved him and I´ll miss him.

I will always remember him as an older cousin who participated in family events. Bill was one of the cousins that I have on my Dad´s side of the family. I have such good memories of all of us in LaJunta and we younger cousins would listen to his stories even then. His wedding to Carol was an exciting event too. We had children at ages close to Billy and Jay and this was another thing to talk about over the years. He and Carol welcomed us to their home on many occasions. I will especially remember him visiting my parents in Florida. They were thrilled to have him and his sister Kay visit. Bill was a kind and loving man and I will miss him.