Narrated by John Harvey
Civil Air Patrol
1958 . . .
The images above are of Bill Ohde and best friends Tom Westover and Peter Christensen.
The Civil Air Patrol was a big part of all of their late 50's experiences. CAP was a dominant factor in those days . . . bonding as lifelong friends came along in a very natural way.
The images above are of Bill Ohde and best friends Tom Westover and Peter Christensen.
The Civil Air Patrol was a big part of all of their late 50's experiences. CAP was a dominant factor in those days . . . bonding as lifelong friends came along in a very natural way.
1958/1959
Bill was founding member of the "Coachmen Car Club" and had a particular talent for design. At 17 he already had a notion for what his life work would be. His first task was to design The Club logo. It was placed on the back of a light blue jacket and became the "hallmark" image for our club. Below the jacket is a picture of the "Coachmen Car Club" taken (est. 1959) at Silver Creek Park just south of Manitowoc. |
A Rally Call By Sharon
At 70, Bill was battling COPD. Sharon (Heise, Ohde) Magnusson, along with the help of their three sons, cared for Bill on a daily basis. In November 2012 Sharon called Pete Christensen to notify him of Bill's declining health.
By early 2013, Pete had already been visiting Bill on a regular basis. Pete and Sharon decided to contact the old "Coachmen Car Club" Members, asking for help.
It was hard finding the names, telephone numbers etc., but Pete and Sharon persevered. They were able to contact John Torrison (Club President), Dick Neuses. John Harvey, and Tom Westover. It was this group that came to help Bill.
By early 2013, Pete had already been visiting Bill on a regular basis. Pete and Sharon decided to contact the old "Coachmen Car Club" Members, asking for help.
It was hard finding the names, telephone numbers etc., but Pete and Sharon persevered. They were able to contact John Torrison (Club President), Dick Neuses. John Harvey, and Tom Westover. It was this group that came to help Bill.
A Music System for Bill
A visit with Bill for January 19, 2013 was arranged by Sharon. Joan and I picked up Dick and Marie Neuses in Green Bay, John and Del Torrison in Appleton, and drove to Thiensville where Bill lived. We met there with Sharon, Bill Ohde and John (Sharon's husband), as well as Pete and Donna Christensen. Tom and Ginny Westover wished to be there too, but Seattle is a long way to travel for a Lunch date. Bill knew that and understood.
We knew that music was a big part of Bill's life. He loved the oldies. So, Bill was given an iPod with a Bose speaker by the club members. The iPod came loaded with over 800 "Oldies". With a big smile on his face, Bill thanked us for the gift. While in Thiensville, we had a little fun with Sharon too. Sharon, over the years, had hinted that she was interested in becoming a Coachmen member. As a matter of fact she expressed that interest repeatedly over the years. The club held steadfast to a timeless code. No women allowed. Sharon asked again in early Feb 2013, casually of course, if maybe the club had a change of heart regarding female members? "After all times have changed in the past 50 years." At Bill's luncheon, Sharon was inducted into the club as our first Female "Coachmen Club" Member. Here Club President John Torrison presents a club membership to an "astonished" Sharon |
Introducing SHARON (HEISE) MAGNUSSON our first female member!
Awarding this membership to Sharon was a Hoot!!
Sharon was completely surprised.
Can you tell??
Awarding this membership to Sharon was a Hoot!!
Sharon was completely surprised.
Can you tell??
"Listen With Bill"
In an effort to stay in close contact with Bill, we created a program called "Listen with Bill" in which an electronic newsletter, with "Oldies" imbedded, would be published weekly. Each receiving member would click on an Oldies song and be directed to Youtube to listen to it. The songs were carefully picked to insure that Bill had them on his iPod. Since Bill didn't have internet access, Sharon would print the newsletter each week and listen to the songs with Bill. In this way, we all listened with Bill. We hoped our weekly contact would lift Bill's spirits.
A Video for Bill
Since we could not all visit Bill, Tom Westover suggested the creation of a video allowing each of us to speak directly to Bill.
The technology was challenging from the construction of the video to the recording by members. Those of us who were able, completed a video and sent the material to Todd Westover (Tom's son). Todd stiched the individual videos together and created a final video that was presented to Bill by Sharon.
The technology was challenging from the construction of the video to the recording by members. Those of us who were able, completed a video and sent the material to Todd Westover (Tom's son). Todd stiched the individual videos together and created a final video that was presented to Bill by Sharon.
Here is an email from Todd Westover as he releases the link to Bill's Video.
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- Mar 7, 2013
- To
- [email protected]
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- [email protected]
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- [email protected]
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- me
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- [email protected]
- and 4 more
A few weeks ago my dad asked me if I knew of anybody who could put together a video for his friend Bill. He would get some of their old buddies to send clips of themselves saying hello. We could find photos of the cars they had, maybe put it to music. I said sure, I could help and started putting this together. It turned into a real labor of love. And I'm finally done. I hope you like it.
All the best,
Todd Westover
The Video
The Plaque
Along with the video, Tom Westover created a Coachmen "Plaque" for Bill. As far as I know Bill and Tom are the only Coachmen to have such a plaque.
Pete and Donna Christensen presented the plaque and video to Bill in early March 2013. You can see by the smile on Bill's face that he enjoyed it immensely. |
The "LISTEN WITH BILL" releases continued each week
until he passed away.