Willard John Romoser

My dad and I spoke on the phone during most Michigan football games in the fall, and while watching Sundays at The Masters in April. But summer times were reserved for grandchildren Katie and David. My parents were snowbirds who migrated from Lakeland, FL to Lake Connor Park, WA just outside Seattle for 24 years. And on Jan. 25, 2025, The Great Bill Romoser, born June 24, 1934, in Benton Harbor, MI to Willard & Edith (Soper) Romoser, left this world to be reunited with mom, his beloved Anne (d. 2023) and son David (d. 1982). But what a marvelous 90 years they were. Always jovial, lighthearted and ready to break into song, my dad was among the kindest men to ever grace our beautiful world.

He had a happy childhood with sisters Joanne (d. 2018) and Jean (d. 2024). Growing up, Grandma Deed told the story of how Billy spent a year in bed with rheumatic fever. He missed a year of school, but Dad said it was a warm and comforting memory that simply caused him to be a year older than his classmates. After high school, he was drafted into the army, didn’t like it much, but had great timing just after the Korean War and before Vietnam, so his four yrs were spent in Hawaii (Oahu’s Schofield Barracks) where he played a lot of bridge (he was excellent, like his dad) and learned about teriyaki.

After the army, he attended the University of Michigan before transferring to Western Michigan Univ. where he met freshman Anne Starkey from St. Clair who was working in the college bookstore. Mom noticed him right away, took off her glasses “to look more sophisticated” and sold him the wrong typewriter ribbon so he’d have to come back in. He did! Their first date was to the Wayside Tavern in Kalamazoo where dad ordered a beer, but mom got a Coke because she was only 18! (Some 27 yrs later, son Michael and future bride Tracy Podolan had their first date at the Wayside, too.) Bill & Anne were married less than a year later, on Sept 2, 1961, but only after mom’s prerequisite that dad get Baptized and confirmed into the Episcopal Church. They spent nearly every single day together for 63 years. Bill graduated WMU with a business and economics degree and went to work for State Farm in Marshall, MI where sons Michael and David were born in ’62 and ’63. Mom graduated with a degree in teaching and in ’67, with Bill now working for Consumers Power Co, the family moved to Jackson, MI. They joined St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and were active members until 1989 when dad retired from Consumers as the Director of Compensation and Benefits, and they moved from Jackson to Lakeland, FL. For the first nine years of retirement, they spent time each summer on dad’s beloved Lake Michigan shore in South Haven.

Music was such a blessing in dad’s life. He and mom were often in three choirs at a time for more than 60 years. They never, ever missed choir rehearsal or church, were longtime members of the Jackson Chorale (where dad was president and my brother and I remember them rehearsing for hours at home trying to nail Handel’s Messiah), the Lakeland Choral Society for 27 yrs, Lakeland’s Bach Festival where dad served on the board, All Saints Episcopal Church choir for more than 30 yrs, and perhaps his favorite retirement memory of leading the Schalamar Creek Golf & Country Club Singers. For more than 15 years, mom organized two or three gigs a week to entertain nursing home residents all over Polk County, and wrote to me once: “This morning we had a gig at an assisted living facility in Winter Haven… I think Dad does a great job drawing the audience into the action by making them guess what the song is and guess at related trivia. I think the songs are well-chosen with  the age group in mind, and they enjoy our corny-ness.”

Dad was board president of Lakeland’s Anchor House Home For Boys from 1996-98, chaired the Florida reunion of Consumers Power retirees for 26 years, and together with mom delivered Meals on Wheels for nearly 30 years.

They also traveled extensively to Europe, Asia, Central America, South Africa, and twice to the Holy Land with All Saints groups, but especially enjoyed their summers in WA state to be near their grandkids.  So we all knew them really well!  Since 1999 their summertime churches were Trinity Episcopal in Everett and later St. John’s in Snohomish. With health concerns, we said goodbye to Lakeland in January 2023 and moved them full time to Seattle. In addition to son Michael and daughter-in-law Tracy Romoser, Bill and Anne are survived by grandchildren Katie and David of Seattle, and Anna White of Londonderry, VT. We loved them dearly and know they’ll be with us in spirit this summer when Katie walks down the wedding aisle with Mitchell Bouldin. And David’s going to be the co-officiant!

Dad taught me the love of God, and more than words could ever express about kindness, faith, a things always work out optimism, family, laughter, business, dogs… I learned basically EVERYthing from my dad and hero who literally was the nicest guy there ever was. On the day he died, the last and only word he spoke to me was “golf”!  So let’s raise our glasses to The Great Bill Romoser, who made the world a better place.