William (Bill) Harper, Jr., 92, of Rochester Hills, passed away on June 2, 2021. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland on September 13, 1928 and immigrated to the U.S. when he was nine years old. He arrived in this country through Ellis Island and would make New York his home for the next 40 years. He was also proud to become a U.S. citizen.
He was married to Joyce for 66 years until her passing in 2016. They loved going to the movies and making New York “egg creams” at home, always being New Yorkers at heart. They also loved to travel together, with their favorite place being Hawaii.
Professionally, he was first a page at NBC before being drafted in the Korean War. After he served, he started working at General Motors while earning his degree at night from New York University. He was the first in his family to earn a college degree. He started at GM in the mailroom and retired over 40 years later in a management position.
His work with GM took him all over the world, including almost six years living in Athens, Greece. When they transferred the New York office of General Motors to Detroit in the late 70’s he moved here and never left, making Michigan his home for over 40 years.
He is survived by his children, Bill (Janice) Harper and Dianne (Jeff) Boyer. He is also survived by five grandchildren, Jennifer (Mike) Fleck, Brittany Harper (Eric Keplar), Matt (Coree) Boyer, Scott Boyer (Riley Collins), Brett Boyer (Kelsey Kochan) and two great-granddchildren, Colin Boyer and Emeline Fleck, who happens to share his birthday, just 90 years apart.
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