William Stein

Bill Stein was loyal, and a genuinely caring man. He loved life and was dedicated to the people who were a part of his world. He had a powerful gift, the gift of connection. Life trained Bill to be a caregiver. All of us in his circle witnessed the many years of daily, loving care that he gave to both his mother, Daisy, and his wife, Bunnie, in their days of need. To his family, his name was Bill or Dad or Gramps or, as Bunnie liked to refer to him, JPB (which stood for Just Plain Bill).

Throughout a lifetime in which he experienced more than his fair share of hardship, Bill always picked up whatever load needed to be carried. He never complained and always just did whatever needed to be done. He repeatedly set his personal interests aside to care for his mother, for Bunnie, and for other loved ones in need. When life’s most challenging crises arose, Bill Stein was the man who stepped up to the plate. Every day, year after year. And through it all, his cheerful attitude, good sense of humor, and love of life shone through.

For a perspective on the first fifty years of Bill’s life, his best friend, Bill Tilles - the second of the so-called “Two-dollar Bills” (thus named by Bill Stein’s mom, Daisy) - reflects on their lives together. The two Bills have been friends since kindergarten. Bill Tilles says “We lived in the same neighborhood, shared many of the same friends, had many of the same interests, and went to the same schools through high school. As kids, we spent a lot of time at his house on Whitelock Street playing music on his baby grand piano. Anytime we were together and there was a piano we would play duets. While we were in high school we produced a musical show at the Baltimore Hebrew congregation using the musical and production skills of our friends and acquaintances. We spent several summers together at Camp Airy in Thurmont, Maryland, which was always fun. Camp Airy was a boys camp; Camp Louise, a short distance away, was the girls camp. We would visit there regularly.”

Although Bill was raised in Baltimore, his mother hailed from Ridgeland, South Carolina and much of Bill’s family still lives there to this day. As he was growing up, Bill visited Ridgeland every year and became close to some of his South Carolina cousins. He had a special connection to Roy with whom he shared his birthday, although Bill was three years older. Every year, on July 2nd, Bill and Roy would have a long catching-up conversation on the phone. Bill was always tickled when he had a chance to chat with the South Carolina part of his family.

Bill attended Western Maryland College, now McDaniel College. He did his graduate work at Boston University where he got a Masters Degree in music. It was there he met his first wife, Ann, with whom he had his son, Mark. Bill’s friend, Carol Tilles, remembers “When Bill married Ann, it somehow seemed perfectly natural for him to invite his life-time buddy, Bill Tilles and wife (me), to join them on their honeymoon trip to Niagara Falls. I still remember our harrowing drive to the Falls late at night in the middle of a blizzard, Bill Stein driving his pale blue convertible with Ann beside him, and Bill and I, wide-eyed and frightened, in the back seat. Obviously, we all made it. But I think of that event as the first of many adventures with my friend, Bill.”

In his early twenties, Bill joined the Air Force where he was first on active duty and then in the reserves for the early part of his adult life. After Bill and Ann moved to northern Virginia, Bill learned to fly gliders. He took lessons at a small airport near their Virginia home. He loved the experience of soaring through the sky. Even in the last years of his life, his stepdaughter, Heidi, remembers how he would sit outside on a sunny day and relish the blue sky and puffy clouds, and comment on every airplane that flew above. He never lost his love of flight.

Bill worked for Honeywell in Boston and then came to IBM where he worked in the Washington branch office as well as the Education Center. After he retired from IBM, Bill took a part time job working for the CIA before he finally retired for good to take care of his family.

Although they had been friends for most of their lives, it was in 1983 that Bill and LoisAnne (Bunnie) began their lives together as a couple. They moved in together in 1985, becoming grandparents to baby Michael just a few months later. They married in 1988, with only their close friend, Betty Barnas, and her date joining them as witnesses, and thus began a marriage and love affair that lasted thirty years. During the first half of their thirty-year relationship, Bill and Bunnie were a vibrant and loving couple. Together, they enjoyed evenings at the symphony, the ballet and the theater. They shared a love of cooking and loved a good meal. Carol Tilles remembers “Bill and Bunnie once decided to go to The Inn at Little Washington (an extraordinary inn and restaurant right outside of DC) and invited us to join them. It was truly a gastronomical adventure! It was a three Michelin star restaurant and everything about this meal was fun and unique. Thank you, Bill, for that adventure.”

During the second half of their marriage, Bill was a patient and attentive caregiver who spent more than fifteen years caring for Bunnie through a very long and difficult illness. During most of those same years, Bill was also the primary caregiver for his own mom, Daisy. Bill carried the physical, emotional, and financial burdens of caregiving during those many years. And yet, he never complained, he did not ask for help, and he never failed to show up as a dutiful son, a devoted husband, and a loving participant in the lives of his children and grandchildren.

In the years since Bunnie’s passing in 2015, Bill has been blessed to establish a new and loving relationship with Karen Conlan and her wonderful family. Karen and her adult kids and extended family helped Bill to find joy again, and have provided invaluable care and support for Bill through a series of health crises which included several serious falls, a heart attack, and most recently the battle with cancer which ultimately took his life.

Until the final days of his life, Bill continued to love life and all the people and opportunities that it provided him. He loved all of his family and friends. He loved good music and good food. He loved a good adventure - a baseball game between the Orioles and the Nationals, a show at Toby’s Dinner Theater or a concert at the Strathmore, a spicy bloody Mary at a festive family brunch, a weekend at Deep Creek Lake with Karen’s family, taking grandchildren to the circus or the pumpkin patch, a phone call with Roy, Linda or Kathy, Bill and Carol, or any of his old friends, the Marlboro Music Festival with Stan and Kay, time spent with the family dogs, annual birthday and Labor Day crab feasts - all of these put a smile on Bill’s face.

Bill faced many challenges in his life but he always found joy and reasons to smile. His family and friends will miss sharing adventures with him, gathering for good food with him, and hearing him tell his silly jokes and lighthearted quips. But we will carry his joy in our hearts as we move forward in our lives. Thank you, Bill, for a lifetime of your dedication, devotion, generosity and joy.

A celebration of life memorial service for William will be held Friday, December 6, 2024 at 11:00 AM at Garden of Remembrance Memorial Park Chapel, 14321 Comus Road, Clarksburg, Maryland 20871.