Besides being in the same homeroom our senior year at Schurz I had the pleasure of attending college with Bill, too, at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. We were in different worlds but it was nice to know he was there.
He took a risk and was part of Chet Kondratowicz's summer theater in 1965, as I was. He danced in "Bye Bye, Birdie!" It was 'way out of his comfort zone but he took the challenge and had a good time! What a trouper. Great smile. I'm sorry he's no longer with us.
Besides our years at Schurz, I remember Bill Benowicz also fondly from a canoe trip 4 of us (Bill, Chuck Malsbury, Bob Wayman) went on, led by two adults, just after graduation...I think all 4 of us had been in Scouts (Troops 957 and 967). We drove through the Wisconsin Dells. Still have photos...Bill and I posing some photos like he was stomping on me as I climbed up the rocks! Spent the night in Baraboo....I remember some locals snickered about my (future) "Kalamazoo College" sweatshirt. Didn't see much difference between the two names! We set out in the early morning rain. About 10 days of paddling, portaging, fishing, camping among the many lakes. One afternoon, we challenged each other to paddle solo against the current (level 1 1/2 rapids) on a certain stretch. He was a bit bigger than I (an advantage when portaging the canoe), but I was the only one to finish paddling upsteam. Just for fun. On the next to last day, the lead canoe (Bill and Bob) flipped over in the stream. We dove down and got the tool kit and some of the food out of the water (clothes, etc were in rubberized cases). Hershey bars were the dessert for that evening...but no one wanted wet ones...so I ate them all...to this day I say there's not such thing as a bad chocolate (if it's not artificial). Still look for Frangos everytime in Chicago. We parted off to college and I don't think I ran into Bill again in the Edgebrook area. A fine person and friend....we're all the poorer for his passing on. My condolences to his family and relatives.
Bill sat behind me in division class for our four years at Schurz. It was a pleasure to see Bill every day and have brief discussions with him. He was an outstanding basketball player as the center for our team. Bill became our class President in our senior year. He was involved in many other activities and was a fine student.His many accomplishments never resulted in any arrogance on his part whatsoever. He was always a very pleasnt , modest person.
I had been looking forward to reminicing about our daily chats and the time we went to see a suburban high school football game to compare Hinsdale with our Schurz Bulldogs. When I sat down at the January meeting of our reunion committee , I was truly disappointed and saddened when a list of recently deceased classmates that was ciiculated contained Bill's name.
Bill was an amazing, kind, and genuine person; he is truly missed. After high school and undergraduate days, we both found ourselves back in Chicago for graduate school--he was working downtown at Northwestern's business school on a hospital administration MBA while I was on the Evanston campus working on my Ph.D.and where Donna (Pedersen) was also employed while I was in school. We would occasionally get together with Bill and his lovely wife Sue, who was also on the Evanston campus working on a grad degree.
I recall fondly talking with Bill about his future military assignment following graduation from NU, as he had been in the Army ROTC. He told me that he had been promised an assignment working in his field of hospital administration if he would go to South Korea for active duty. Knowing that Bill had gone on from Schurz to play football at Lawrence, I knew that he would never see the inside of a hospital there because my older brother, who had played for Illinois, did nothing but play and coach for the General's team in Korea. Bill didn't consider my prediction to be serious. Several months later, Bill sent me a long letter frrom Korea telling me that during his first day of PT training, a captain stepped in front of his imposing body and asked, "Did you play football in college"? Bill told him he had played but that he was assigned to hospital administration work and had no interest in football. The response, as you might guess, was "If you don't play for the Colonel's team, I will make damn well sure that you will never see the inside of a hospital during your entire time in Korea." Needless to say, Bill played but as far as I know he never did work in hospital administration but was a top notch CEO just as he was worthy of being Class President for Schurz '63.
Christine Kaufman
Besides being in the same homeroom our senior year at Schurz I had the pleasure of attending college with Bill, too, at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. We were in different worlds but it was nice to know he was there.
He took a risk and was part of Chet Kondratowicz's summer theater in 1965, as I was. He danced in "Bye Bye, Birdie!" It was 'way out of his comfort zone but he took the challenge and had a good time! What a trouper. Great smile. I'm sorry he's no longer with us.
Charles Rimpila
Bill and I were in the same home room for 4 years while at Schurz.
I remember him as being a friendly and decent guy.
He was on the basketball team and I remember watching him and the rest of the team play.
I am sorry to hear he is gone.
Robert Cerese
Does anyone have any information on Bill Benowicz Passing ? Thanks Bob,
Christine Kaufman
I looked up his obituary in Google, as you can. He was in business for many years, played rugby, had a family. He had a heart attack.
Glenn Gardner
Besides our years at Schurz, I remember Bill Benowicz also fondly from a canoe trip 4 of us (Bill, Chuck Malsbury, Bob Wayman) went on, led by two adults, just after graduation...I think all 4 of us had been in Scouts (Troops 957 and 967). We drove through the Wisconsin Dells. Still have photos...Bill and I posing some photos like he was stomping on me as I climbed up the rocks! Spent the night in Baraboo....I remember some locals snickered about my (future) "Kalamazoo College" sweatshirt. Didn't see much difference between the two names! We set out in the early morning rain. About 10 days of paddling, portaging, fishing, camping among the many lakes. One afternoon, we challenged each other to paddle solo against the current (level 1 1/2 rapids) on a certain stretch. He was a bit bigger than I (an advantage when portaging the canoe), but I was the only one to finish paddling upsteam. Just for fun. On the next to last day, the lead canoe (Bill and Bob) flipped over in the stream. We dove down and got the tool kit and some of the food out of the water (clothes, etc were in rubberized cases). Hershey bars were the dessert for that evening...but no one wanted wet ones...so I ate them all...to this day I say there's not such thing as a bad chocolate (if it's not artificial). Still look for Frangos everytime in Chicago. We parted off to college and I don't think I ran into Bill again in the Edgebrook area. A fine person and friend....we're all the poorer for his passing on. My condolences to his family and relatives.
Jon Anderson
Bill sat behind me in division class for our four years at Schurz. It was a pleasure to see Bill every day and have brief discussions with him. He was an outstanding basketball player as the center for our team. Bill became our class President in our senior year. He was involved in many other activities and was a fine student.His many accomplishments never resulted in any arrogance on his part whatsoever. He was always a very pleasnt , modest person.
I had been looking forward to reminicing about our daily chats and the time we went to see a suburban high school football game to compare Hinsdale with our Schurz Bulldogs. When I sat down at the January meeting of our reunion committee , I was truly disappointed and saddened when a list of recently deceased classmates that was ciiculated contained Bill's name.
Robert Badal
Bill was an amazing, kind, and genuine person; he is truly missed. After high school and undergraduate days, we both found ourselves back in Chicago for graduate school--he was working downtown at Northwestern's business school on a hospital administration MBA while I was on the Evanston campus working on my Ph.D.and where Donna (Pedersen) was also employed while I was in school. We would occasionally get together with Bill and his lovely wife Sue, who was also on the Evanston campus working on a grad degree.
I recall fondly talking with Bill about his future military assignment following graduation from NU, as he had been in the Army ROTC. He told me that he had been promised an assignment working in his field of hospital administration if he would go to South Korea for active duty. Knowing that Bill had gone on from Schurz to play football at Lawrence, I knew that he would never see the inside of a hospital there because my older brother, who had played for Illinois, did nothing but play and coach for the General's team in Korea. Bill didn't consider my prediction to be serious. Several months later, Bill sent me a long letter frrom Korea telling me that during his first day of PT training, a captain stepped in front of his imposing body and asked, "Did you play football in college"? Bill told him he had played but that he was assigned to hospital administration work and had no interest in football. The response, as you might guess, was "If you don't play for the Colonel's team, I will make damn well sure that you will never see the inside of a hospital during your entire time in Korea." Needless to say, Bill played but as far as I know he never did work in hospital administration but was a top notch CEO just as he was worthy of being Class President for Schurz '63.
Bob Badal