WILLIAM DAVID BLOUNT

WILLIAM DAVID BLOUNT

LAKELAND - William David Blount, more affectionately known as Daddy, Dad, Grandpa, Bill or Billy, passed away Sunday, May 21, 2017 in his home in Lakeland, Florida. Bill, the moniker most of his friends used, was a storyteller at heart. If you ever met Bill in person, you learned something about history, and if you were from Florida, you probably learned something about your own family's history too. Bill always seemed able to know just the story to tell that was somehow personally relevant to just about everyone in his audience. This gift allowed him to charm every waiter and waitress we ever had, be on a first name basis with every gas station clerk for miles, and give a twenty-plus minute wedding toast (which was 'short' in his book) that kept the whole crowd oscillating between rapt attention and stitches the entire time. Most of Bill's stories didn't just entertain though, they made you a better person, imparting at least one lesson: the importance of laughter, integrity, fortitude, and squaring yourself with God. His fierce love for his family was a common theme too. He was unequivocating in that.
Bill was brilliant, which showed not only in his creative use of words, but his ability to remember all the details which enlivened his stories and endeared him to so many people. He always remembered a face and the name that went with it. However, it was Bill's ability to connect details that made him an amazing market analyst, work he committed the last 20 years of his life to and which eventually culminated in a mass following seeking market insight and advice from him.
Bill LOVED music. He knew every word to all the songs, and had all the dance moves to go with them. He was the life of the party, ensuring that every event turned into another story to add to his raconteur's repertoire. He may have only been 62 when he passed, but you'd swear he was 124 because it's hard to imagine that one person had done so much and cultivated so many true friendships in one lifetime, and yet he had.
And while none of us can tell a story quite like Bill, he's left behind several of us to try. He is survived by his children whom he loved fiercely, Rachel Blount Spath, Meredith Blount, Annabeth Blount and William R.R. Blount; their spouses whom he thought of as his own children, Brian Spath and Luke Gilroy; his grandchildren, Gabriel Brown and Noah Blount; his sisters, Leslie Medders and Patti Jo Kanline and their spouses; his nieces and nephew, Lauren Perrine Chambers, Katie Kanline and Kenny Kanline; innumerable friends whom he considered to be like family, but in particular the ones he considered brothers, Hugh Scott, Greg Buck and Tommy Durham; and an entire community of market analysts and day traders that will greatly miss his insights and the flair with which he shared them. Bill was surely greeted in heaven Sunday evening by his parents, Robert H. and Mary M. Blount.
A viewing is scheduled at Whidden-McLean Funeral Home in Bartow for Thursday, May 25 from 6 pm to 8 pm. Services will be held at First United Methodist Church of Bartow on Friday, May 26 at 3 pm, with burial to follow at Wildwood Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a charitable donation to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or telling a story that puts a smile on someone's face.
PS - Dad, we don't know how you wrote for the Polk County Democrat for so many years. Apparently, the paper makes you reign in your word count, so this doesn't say nearly enough, but we certainly tried to use as many ten cent words as we could, just for you.
Condolences to family at
http://www.whiddenmcleanfuneralhome.com/