I met Bill through my brother - Suri and have connected with him both personally and through work since. Bill had this beautiful gift of making  you feel absolutely comfortable and special from the word 'go' - always caring and sharing.

It was a delight to work with him. I remember walking into his office many times at the Blade office and he always welcomed me with his endearing smile, no matter how busy he was, and listen with complete attention.  I always admired his habit of meticulously maintained notes.  

He touched our family in many special ways and has left each of us with everlasting fond memories. Our family will always be grateful to him for being the special 'brahmin' for my mother's death anniversary and insisting on eating the Indian style keeping with the tradition. The special ‘thali’ dinner in Chennai, the many discussions on Indian culture, Hanuman, Ganesha (i still owe him a Ganesha painting), his connect with my son Nachiket... all too special.   

Our deepest and heartfelt condolensces to his three daughters and the entire family.  We will miss him too.  


I heard about Bill  many times, from the many stories my brother Suri , and my nephew Siddhartha told  me before I was blessed with the opportunity to meet him in person.  So my memories of Bill are many - those that I created in my world of imagination through what I heard about him and those that I actually experienced with him. The congruence of these is testimony to what Bill is - an authentic, compassionate, gentle person . Bill  has this amazing gift - of really listening to you, and this made you  feel special.  That’s what I felt, in the few times I conversed with him, when I met him in India.  The topics varied but had one common theme - India !

I, like most Indians believe in rebirth. I strongly feel Bill was an Indian in his previous birth. He loves everything Indian. This picture is of the time when we went to a South Indian restaurant in Chennai. Bill, eating South Indian food off a banana leaf  plate with his fingers, ( he just wouldn’t give up and pick a spoon , even though it took him quite some time) and the chef bringing a banana flower to explain how the banana flower dish which is a delicacy is made - is forever etched in my memory.  There was live Carnatic music that day, and Bill listened with rapt attention, as I translated the lyrics. 

Fortunate are those who got an opportunity to work with him. His passion for his work was palpable. I really wish I had an opportunity to work with him- perhaps in my next life!

May his soul attain eternal peace. My heartfelt condolences to  the family. 

When I think of Bill, the first words that come to mind are: nurturing, comforting, caring. Bill’s supreme gift was to make anybody he interacted with feel special.  It is not surprising that even his casual acquaintances think of him as “my good friend, Bill”. He touched the lives of so many people, and enjoyed their respect, admiration, trust and confidence.

For me, and my family, Bill was a very dear friend.  He always had the time for my son Sid, having long conversations with him every time he came (and Sid loves to talk!). I will particularly be grateful for the time he was the “Brahmin” we fed as part of my mother’s death anniversary ceremony, even eating the meal with his fingers, the “Indian” way. He loved many things Indian, including cricket, the Hindu god Hanuman, and the movie star Rajnikant.

Bill was an exceptionally talented and meticulous engineer (his painstaking notes fill many notebooks which are the stuff of legend). He taught me about “Occam’s razor”.  He was my right hand, one I could trust with any project or problem.

But his greatest legacy is the many interns and Blade employees he nurtured and mentored, turning them into better engineers and people, profoundly impacting their lives.

Hard to accept that Bill is gone. With him, the industry has lost one of its finest engineers, future young engineers have lost a great mentor and teacher, many of us have lost a dear friend, and the Blade family has lost its most huggable teddy bear.

I met Bill as I was dating his daughter, my future wife. We immediately connected over our shared interest for the fictional universe and related sci-fi books for Warhammer 40k, and I knew instantly that this was a guy that I could get along with. I’d been worried that I would have trouble getting to know this cool dad Mary Catherine had gone on and on about; it turned out I needn’t have worried at all.
When I later invited him to a 1-on-1 lunch and he brought me to a sandwich place in Topanga,  where revealed to him that I intended to marry his daughter, he gave a great big grin.
Bill’s smile and laughter and his enthusiasm for telling a story are the things that frame my memories of him. Whether about a cool new gadget he got, or a story from his past travels, or describing some ridiculous but awesome scene from a book he read or a movie he watched recently, I will always remember the genuine amusement in his voice and in his face.
I find myself still thinking about him daily, wondering what he would think of this or that as I go through my day. There’s a lot of Bill that I didn’t get to experience, so much about him and his life and his experiences that I never got to talk to him about. In spite of the briefness of our relationship, I miss him terribly; he will always hold a special place in my heart and in my mind, both as Mary Catherine’s dad and my father-in-law, and as my friend.

Bill had a way of making everyone feel special. My son Sid and I  feel his loss deeply although he worked with my husband Suri for several years. Bill loved Indian food and whenever he came to our house for a meal he always accepted left overs in a to go box. Best of all, he ate with his fingers at our house. The last time he  came to our house was with the two interns he mentored. He promised to come back and play zombie games on the Xbox with Sid, but that promise will remain unfulfilled. He was so proud of his daughters and always shared news about them.  My deepest condolences to you, Alison, Caroline, and Mary Catherine. You had one very special man for a father! 

Bill and I have been friends for almost 40 years.  All through Mobil and then Blade.  He was always prepared and one of my many friends who had a "go bag" ready (12 gauge pump shot gun included).  I can remember Bill telling me that he and his brother would have their annual Thanksgiving Zombie Apocalypse shoot out (video game) where they would shoot Zombies during the Thanksgiving Holiday.   Seemed they could wipe out several hundred thousand in a single day.  Sounded like a great time.

Bill was an excellent engineer and could make the most amazing spreadsheets to present his engineering calculations and results.  No one could do it better than Bill . . . 


In 2011, Bill and I went on a worldwide audit of offshore facilities. I spent weeks traveling with him across the world. One of my fondest memories is when we traveled from Jakarta to offshore West Papua. It took us three plane connections and one helicopter ride to board the Ocean Rover at the border of the North Pacific and South Pacific Oceans. Bill was a great mentor, always calm and interested in people.

I got to know Bill when we were doing a project in the Southern California region.  He was very humble and always a pleasure to work with. He talked about his kids with a lot of pride. 

He contributed significantly to the oil and gas industry and Blade. He was known for his meticulous work, data analytical skills and one could have conversations with him on a range of topics.  Bill brought a smile to people's faces wherever he went—prayers and blessings to him and his family.

Bill joined Blade shortly after I did, in 2004. He was always a pleasure to work with on numerous projects, as well as a great source of information, advice, and inspiration. He had a remarkable  attention to detail and kept meticulous notes on every aspect of a project. I had the honour of being his co-instructor for Blade's Advanced Casing Design Course in 4 cities on 4 continents - Houston , Rio de Janeiro, Kuala Lumpur (twice) and Perth. He was more than a colleague. He was a friend, a mentor and a big brother, all of which I have lost. Even my wife and her friends who met Bill at social get togethers loved him, and will also miss him terribly. He had a great sense of humour and an intellectual curiosity for all aspects of life, and even acquired a taste for the arcane sport of Cricket on his several trips to India! One of my favourite memories will be that of Bill nursing a glass of wine 7 miles above the Hudson River at the walk-up bar on the Emirates Airbus 380 during our flight from Dallas to Dubai on our way to teach the ACD in Kuala Lumpur. So long, Bill. We'll treasure the memories and fight the zombies should they arise, in your honour!

It's a Sensory World

Celebration of Life Gathering

Bill is survived by his three daughters: Allison, Carolyn, and Mary Catherine, his siblings: Dave and Annabel, his mother: Brenda, and his step-mother: Brenda. Bill’s first grandchild and namesake, William, was born on October 5th and is happy and healthy. Bill is also survived by nieces, nephews, his cat Dee Dee, and many beloved friends and colleagues.

OBITUARY

Bill Whitney

5 February, 1958 – 22 September, 2021

Rolling Oaks Funeral Home

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