Story by Roy Kilgore and Bonnie Helander

William (Bill) Refuss is an exemplary American who has lived a life to be admired. He is blessed with a loving family and a wide circle of friends. Born in 1925, Bill weathered the Great Depression, served his country during World War II, married his college sweetheart, and enjoyed a long career in aviation. He is one of the few surviving members of the “Greatest Generation!”

Bill was born in Duluth, MN, just before the advent of the Great Depression, and remembers well the hardships placed on families of that era. He recalls his father losing his job, and his family having to move away to a smaller place in Cohasset, MN (a town of about 200 people).To ensure they always had enough to eat, the family fished and tended a large vegetable garden. “The Depression years were hard,” Bill recalls. “We had no electricity, no indoor plumbing, no heating, and we had to cut wood for heating and cooking.”

To help support the family, Bill spent his summers working as a “gandy dancer” (laying railroad tracks in an iron mine), as well as a lineman’s helper, raising and cutting wire for the electric company.  When he father found new work, the family moved to Grand Rapids, where Bill attended high school.

World War II was raging, and before graduating high school, Bill applied and was accepted into the Navy’s V5 Aviation Cadet Program. Since he had to wait for a training class to open up, Bill was told to go ahead and finish high school. He was then temporarily assigned to the Marines, “to make men out of us!” Bill remembers his time with the Marines consisting of picking up cigarette butts, washing thousands of windows, mopping hundreds of floors, and scraping gum off the hangar floor at 3 a.m.

The Navy’s Aviation Cadet Program required extensive training – not just flying. Morse code was required, and other classes were contracted at several different universities. During his training, Bill attended classes at the University of Georgia and University of North Carolina. After his classroom training, he reported to the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, FL, where he completed flight training, became carrier-qualified and received his aviator’s wings. Bill enjoyed flying for the Navy so much, he signed up for another four-year tour of duty.

After the war ended, the Navy needed no more carrier pilots, so Bill was sent to Hutchinson, KS to join a hurricane squadron. “I never saw a hurricane,” he says. Bill was discharged from the Navy in 1947.

Bill met his future wife, Jean, in college in Kansas City, and they became engaged. During a visit home, he received a call from Eastern Air Lines to offer him a job in Cleveland as a radio operator. Jean joined him in Cleveland and took a job as a secretary with General Motors. They were married on December 2, 1947. After about two years as a radio operator, Bill was hired by Eastern as a pilot. As soon as they could, the couple moved to East Point, GA, close to the Atlanta Airport, where Bill began his career flying for Eastern Air Lines.

While living in East Point, the couple was blessed with a son, Mark, in 1955, and then a daughter, Kathy, in 1956. In 1973, the family moved to Peachtree City and soon joined First Baptist Church of Peachtree City. Jean was an accomplished artist and was an active volunteer in the Japanese children’s ministry at First Baptist Church.

During their years together in Peachtree City, Bill and Jean enjoyed playing golf, riding his motorcycle and participating in Kiwanis Club activities. Bill retired in 1984, after 35 years flying for Eastern. Bill and Jean moved to Arbor Terrace in 2017. Jean passed away February 15, 2021, after 74 years of a happy marriage.

In summing up his thoughts, Bill says, “At 100 years old, I have had a wonderful, happy, life, thanks to the Lord’s many blessings, and I can’t think of anything I would change – great parents, older sister, Ruth, wonderful wife, both children having families, and three grandchildren. Also, we met and worked with a lot of great people. What more could I ask?”