2008: BILLY OPFERMAN

Bill was a personal friend of many years. I met him 25 or 30 years ago when we both met while indulging in our hobby of metal detecting. Bill died this week, a shocking death which police are calling a suicide. He was the champion of veterans. An ardent proponent of the P.O.W. fiasco where the U.S. Government claimed all prisoners of war had been accounted for. Bill, along with many of us, felt otherwise. He, along with August ("Augie") Scotto were self appointed watchdogs at nearly every Hamilton Township Council meeting. One of his solutions to Hamilton's fiscal problems was to cut back on the very expensive public entertainment programs until the township once again became fiscally balanced. In perfect harmony with the aforementioned solutions, he was also an ardent supporter of the volunteer summer music concerts my son Tom Jr. and I performed our "The Music We Grew Up With" at Kuser Park over the past 2 summers. I miss Billy, and he will be on my perpetual prayer list. May he rest in peace.