Charles "Bill" William Douglass

Bill's mother wanted to name him Charles, his dad said that was fine, but we will call him Bill.

Bill married his high school sweetheart, Kay Whitlow, in 1957. They were married 67 years, and had two daughters, two sons-in-law, one granddaughter, and two great-grandchildren. He deeply loved his family.

Bill and his brother grew up on the Western Illinois prairie in the tiny town of Adair. They were the sons of the town postmaster and schoolteacher. Their family revolved around music. His dad was the town bandleader, and his mom an accomplished pianist and organist. Both boys went into music. Bill began performing at church when he was 5.

Bill received his bachelor's at the University of Illinois, where he played French horn as a member of the orchestra and the Illini Marching Band.

An avid teetotaler, he was sought after by many dance bands in the late 1950's for his string bass talent and sober driving ability.

In 1960, Bill and Kay moved to the Chicago area, where Bill completed his master's degree at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. While in Chicago, he occasionally played in the horn section of the Chicago Lyric Opera.

In August 1969, the small family moved to The Hague, Netherlands, where Bill taught music at the American International School and established the renowned International Wind Ensemble for high school students. While in Europe, he studied postgraduate conducting with Bernard Haitink at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. He also studied with the Minnesota Orchestra and conductor Henry Charles Smith in Minnesota.

After moving to Minnetonka, Minnesota, in 1971, he became the orchestra director at Lindbergh High School and a music teacher in the Hopkins School district. Under his direction, the Lindbergh orchestra was awarded Outstanding Performance at the Midwest National Band and Orchestra Cllinic in 1974, and he was named MMEA Music Educator of the Year for Orchestra in 1990. He was also the orchestra director at Augsburg College in the late 1970s.

He always called himself a "whisky tenor," despite never having tasted whiskey. His clear tenor voice enhanced church choirs, which he directed at Methodist churches in Skokie, IL, and Hopkins, Minnesota. A Cantor in Skokie even asked him to help sing in their ensemble at High Holy Days service, teaching him the Hebrew phonetically.

He was hooked after traveling as a family all over Europe in their two years there. In their retirement, Bill and Kay went on many European trips with Road Scholar.

He was a townie as a kid and a city boy as an adult, loving to visit New York City as much as possible. Bill never stopped learning and loving music. In the last few years of his life, he delighted in going to concerts at the Minnesota Orchestra and the Cantus Vocal Ensemble as often as possible. He also enjoyed curating exhibits on The Tools That Built America, Indy Cars, and antique nautical navigational instruments. Kay gifted him a trip to the Indy 500 for his 80th birthday.

If you ever met Bill you would remember, and he would remember you. He never met a stranger. To honor him, put on some chamber music and lift a glass of Pepsi.

A private family service will be held.