"I Trust His Will Completely" - My Brother, Bill (1/2)

My Final Text String With Bill

How do I adequately describe my brother, Bill... the man that had the most profound impact on my life; the man who let a long haired, pot smoking, confused, rebellious16 year-old move into he and his new wife's tiny, cramped apartment; the man whose influence helped vastly change the trajectory of my life?

I guess it's best to start from the beginning.

Born on March 14th, 1952, Bill was child number 4 in the Munson household and he would be the final piece to the family puzzle created by Virgil and Verna Munson. Or so they thought... almost seven years later, the real baby of the family would be born. That baby was me. "The "oops baby."

The 5 Munson Siblings

All five Munson kids were born in Iowa but in October of 1959, like many other families from the Midwest, our dad moved us to Southern California in search of a new beginning in the Golden State. I was only 9 months old at the time of the move, so my life's earliest memories were those made in our new home of California.

As a small child, I was far too young to analyze my family's economic barometer but we were struggling. I wouldn't say that we were in abject poverty but we had to stand on our tip toes to even get a glimpse of the middle class. We were perpetual house renters and we had one, beat up old car. We never went out to eat, we wore nothing but hand-me-downs and owned absolutely no luxuries.

We settled in the town of Artesia for a couple years before moving to the neighboring city of Lakewood in 1962.

We rented a small, 3 bedroom house. Our parents had one bedroom, our sister, Barbara, had a bedroom to herself and so the four boys were crammed in the other bedroom. Four boys, three twin beds and a chest of drawers. Being the two youngest, Bill and I shared one of those twin beds.

It was sharing that bed with Bill where I learned about his vivid imagination. He would tell me about a ghost from Texas that he would talk with every night. He would pull the covers over our heads and then make a noise with his mouth, like wind blowing as he rippled the covers. This represented the ghost's arrival. After the arrival, there would be dead silence for a minute or so... as I anxiously waited, not knowing whether to be excited or frightened. That period of silence was when the ghost was talking to Bill but only in a voice that he could hear and understand. Eventually, I'd hear the "wind blowing noise" again and I knew the ghost from Texas had departed. I'd excitedly ask him what the ghost said and Bill would spin a yarn about the conversation and I would honestly believe every word of it! Eventually, I made up a ghost of my own. He was from Iowa but he didn't seem to communicate with me as effectively Bill's ghost did with him. 

Bill & Bob Sparring in Yard

Bill's fantasies would manifest in numerous other ways too... like the time I was in the driveway, playing two-square with a friend, using the crack in the cement as the game's dividing line... when suddenly, Bill came sprinting by us, wearing a purple hoodie with the hood tied tightly around his face. He later denied it was him and claimed that Batman had unexpectedly paid a visit to our neighborhood. Apparently, Robin didn't accompany him on this trip. Prior engagement, I guess.

Then there was the time that he convinced me that we could turn an old shed into a rocket ship. The shed belonged to our landlord and it sat in a vacant field behind our house. Bill had taken a tape measure to the structure and then had drawn up a detailed diagram and the step by step plan to get that thing off the ground and into outer space. I was honored to be chosen as a passenger in the inaugural flight and I 100% believed that we could pull it off... because Bill said we could! Whether it was a lack of funding or the exorbitant price of rocket fuel, we never launched the shed into orbit.

Our family was not a religious one. We never went to church or even talked about God but that all changed a couple years after moving to California. My sister, Barbara, was invited to church by a friend from high school and that singular invitation triggered a chain of events that would have a massive impact on our family forever.

Once my sister started attending that church on a regular basis, one by one, she would bring her four brothers with her. Bill was the one brother that made a deep commitment to his faith and that would become the most important facet of his life from that point forward.

Nearly 10 years after moving to California, our father died of cancer at the age of 46 in April of 1969, which set in motion another set of events that ultimately jumbled the Munson family dynamic. One of the most significant outcomes was our mom's decision to move back to Iowa where we could feel the comfort of extended family members and the familiar surroundings of mom's initial 35 years of life.

As plans for the move were put in place and scheduled for July of 1969, Bill and I were the only two siblings that were still in school. I would be entering the 5th grade and Bill, his senior year of high school. 

The decision to move was particularly rough on Bill. Not only would he have to change schools for his final year of high school but an even a greater sacrifice was being torn away from his church and his girlfriend, Janet Osborne, the pastor's daughter. 

There were many heated discussions between Bill and mom as moving plans began to take shape. Bill's well earned nickname was "Bullhead." He was as stubborn as stubborn can be and he would argue ferociously if he thought he was in the right. However, Mom stood firm and Bill moved with us. 

Bill was enrolled in Madrid High School and immediately began summer workouts with the football team. He had never played football but his speed impressed the coach enough to plug him in at running back.

Bill would never get the opportunity to showcase his athletic skills on the Madrid football team as he finally won the argument with mom and moved back to California for his final year of high school.

To be continued...