I think I can safely say it’s not every day you get to meet a 94-year-old. I believe it’s even safer to say that you don’t meet a 94-year-old who held a pole-vaulting record, lived in Lucille Ball’s house, self-healed a broken back, owns an island, has golfed in all 50 states, and is an excellent typer. Bill Walker is all this and more. He and his wife of 71 years, Bonnie, moved to White Eagle this spring with their daughter Kathy and her husband Tim. I got to chat with them about their incredible love story and action-packed lives.

            Bill is a force to be dealt with and it was all I could do to keep up with him. He impressed upon me several times how truly wonderful Bonnie has been to him. He said, “My life started with Bonnie, will go on with Bonnie and will end with Bonnie.” They met at their freshman orientation at NIU. Bill recalled seeing Bonnie and knowing right away she was the one for him. They have spent their lives together ever since. Due to the fact that she graduated second in her high school class, she was very instrumental in helping him get through college and he fully acknowledges that without her, he wouldn’t have been able to do so.

            For their first date they met for coffee, which was Bonnie’s favorite. After that, she told him to meet her at the building with the large columns. When Bill asked why, she said, “Because that’s the library, and that will be where we are going to study every day.” Since he was much more interested in being a wrestler and running track, this wasn’t his usual stomping ground, but if that’s what Bonnie wanted he’d do it.      

            But Bill’s adventures started well before college. He was in the Navy four years, from 1951-1955. However, true to form for Bill, it wasn’t the typical four years of service. Bill befriended the captain and got a pretty great position as yeoman, giving him time to enjoy outdoor activities. He spent time in San Diego as well as Hawaii where his typing skills were put to use as secretary to the captain, but he really focused on spending as much time as possible playing tennis, diving, swimming and practicing flips on the trampoline. In fact, while in Hawaii, he met several locals who taught him how to cliff dive, spear fish and scuba dive.

             Bill was very adept at a wide variety of these adventures, however it was also what led to him being posted on a submarine.  While doing a flip on a trampoline he broke his back. Not surprisingly, Bill had made friends with someone with a connection to a doctor on base who said without strenuous activity his back would heal so he cleared him for a six-month stint on a submarine.

            Nevertheless, he was not interested in taking it easy and, because he is remarkably tolerant to pain, Bill was called on to do an unusual job. The captain on the sub collected Japanese glass fishing net floats so when they were spotted bobbing in the ocean, they would tether Bill to the ship and he would swim out to retrieve the globe to add to the captain’s collection. Incredibly, after six months on the sub, his back had healed but Bill found himself being lifted with a bosun chair from the submarine to an aircraft carrier. It was a serious case of mono that landed him in a hospital, first on the aircraft carrier and then in Japan. He spent several weeks convalescing. Bill was discharged and headed to college.

            Since Bonnie was just out of high school when they met, they spent their first year of college dating. When she turned 18, and during their sophomore year in school, the two decided to elope. Bonnie’s parents were not quite enamored with Bill yet, so they had a father of a friend marry them in a civil ceremony. They both graduated with their Masters, Bonnie’s in Math and Bill in Physical Education and they both became lifelong math teachers at Downers Grove North High School. It was the first time the school employed a married couple to teach there. As you can probably imagine, both Bonnie and Bill were beloved teachers and instilled a love for math in all their students and they loved what they did.

            The first home they purchased was only a few blocks away from the school, so every day they walked hand in hand to work. Both Kathy and her sister attended the school and Kathy recalls saying, “Mom you made a mistake,“ which led to the entire class starting to call Bonnie Mom. Bonnie recalls it as her worst year of teaching.  And while Bonnie was an exceptional calculus teacher, she also plays the piano and organ. She has played throughout her entire life and continues to do so to this day.

            In 1959, they heard about a woman who was selling an island in Lake of the Woods, in Ontario Canada. She’d been trying to sell it for some time with no luck. When Bill and Bonnie inquired about the price, she said she’d sell it for $800, which was far less than what they’d expected. After buying it site unseen Bonnie and Bill went straight out to see it, and both recalled saying, “We have died and gone to heaven.” It was a stunning five acre piece of property with two log cabins and a boat. The family has spent every summer there since and are so fond of it. There have been upgrades over the years as there weren’t modern conveniences originally, but there are now more cabins and amenities like showers, a propane oven and fridge.

            After Bill retired, he hopped on his motorcycle fitted with a specially built trailer for his golf clubs and headed out to fulfill his dream of golfing in every state. Owing to the fact that he’d been a football and wrestling coach for all his years at Downers Grove, he’d made contacts with people now living in places throughout the country. He was able to complete this goal in just under a year, ending up in California. Bonnie had agreed to this undertaking if he then built her a dream home in Borrego Springs. Again, incredibly, Bill had purchased a house there that Lucille Ball had lived in years before, so he fixed it up and Bonnie joined him soon after. They spent their retirement years there staying active.

            Bill taught himself to sail while Bonnie read him a how-to book from the shore. They both were avid tennis players and enjoyed water skiing, kayaking and jet skiing. Bonnie is a voracious reader and always has been, spending hours reading while on the island. The couple spent their retirement years in Borrego for the winter, then driving cross-country to see their kids here in Naperville, then headed up to Canada to spend summers on the island, every year taking a different route to get here from California. Bill did all the driving and only stopped when he was 89.

            Sometimes couples that have spent their lives together can appear content and tranquil, but after spending a few hours with these two, not only was I exhausted from trying to get the numerous experiences all recorded, I feel like they aren’t finished! Bill reiterated throughout our meeting how special Bonnie is to him and the twinkle in both their eyes is still fresh in my mind, but even at 94 I have a feeling I might have another encounter with this incredible couple regarding even more activity. If it’s up to Bill, this will absolutely come to fruition.