William Fred Willis

Willis opens aircraft servicing, inspection business at airport

BY JACK McDUFFIE Staff Writer

Working on flying machines is more than a passion for Steve Willis-it is his business.Willis owns and operates an aircraft maintenance service business at Curtis L. Brown, Jr. Field in Elizabethtown.

Now he can operate his business from the hangar he rents at the airport, thanks to an action taken by the Elizabethtown Airport/Economic Development Commission at its July meeting.

Willis, a Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) licensed aircraft mechanic, was already providing maintenance service at the airport before the board action.However, he was not authorized to use the hangar as his place of business.Now he can.

Willis, who has spent most of his adult life in aviation, says he has always loved working on airplanes, and the independence of working for himself.

He began working around aircraft when he was still in high school in Elizabethtown.Back then the airport was called Fisher Field.

He later began working on aircraft while he was taking flying lessons in Clinton, shortly after graduating from high school.He began his maintenance apprenticeship under R. A. Naylor, a pilot and licensed aircraft mechanic at Clinton.

He purchased his first airplane for $1,250 shortly after completing requirements for his private pilot's license.He later sold it for double that amount to pay for training to become a commercial pilot.

During this period he entered the North Carolina Army National Guard and attended helicopter maintenance school.He served his enlistment in helicopter maintenance.He said the school has been tremendously beneficial to him over the years.

He completed requirements for his commercial license and began to work in commercial aviation as a crop duster.Not long afterward he started his own crop dusting service, which he operated until 1984.He then went to work as a pilot for what was then Piedmont Airlines (later U.S. Air) and worked for the airline until 2001 when he retired.

Throughout all these years, he performed maintenance on aircraft.In the early 1980s he took the licensing examination and was licensed as an aircraft mechanic.

Over the years he has completely rebuilt several airplanes, he says.

Willis says he specializes in general maintenance on fixed wing aircraft and helicopters.He completely rebuilds, restores, and performs general repair on aircraft.

He also is a FAA licensed inspector and does required annual inspections on aircraft.

"I've always liked working on aircraft and this gives me the opportunity to run my own business and do what I like to do.What more can a guy ask?"Willis said, smiling.

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Willis may be reached at 876-2519.

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WILLIAM WILLIS (BILL) ROBESON

Bill was the 2002 Inductee into the Montana Broadcasters Hall of Fame.He was honored for improving the quality of radio and involving stations in their communities.His radio stations were named Station of the Year seven by the MBA seven times in his lifetime.His Hall of Fame plaque depicts Bill with microphone in hand, striding in step with Ronald Reagan during a live remote interview.
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This took place while Bill was the original reporter and emcee of the Western National Governors conference at West Yellowstone in 1967.Over his career, Bill also interviewed Presidents Nixon, Bush and Eisenhower.

Bill was a man of action: a journalist, a statesman, gentleman, World War II veteran, pilot, patriot and most of all, a devoted father, husband and grandfather.
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Throughout his professional life, Bill was active in the Montana Broadcasters Association, Glasgow Jaycees and Kiwanis, Rotary, the Elks, and was one of the only Montanans to serve on the National Board of Governors of American Red Cross.In 1988, he was awarded the Red Cross's prestigious Clara Barton Medal for meritorious volunteer leadership.He was an active Shriner for more than 25 years and served a Potentate of Algeria Temple in 1981-82.

Bill was born in Hibbing, Minnesota, on July 14, 1923, in the "Iron Range," to Clarence Holter and Anna Rasmussen Holter, second generation Norwegian and Danish immigrants.
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Bill was always very proud of this and proud to be an American.

He had an active Minnesota childhood, playing hockey, swimming, fishing and playing the hardest tunes as the lead bugler in the youth corps, according to his younger brother Warren, who was a talented drummer in the corps.Through his teens, Bill was drawn toward debate and theatre and held many lead roles in school plays.

In 1948, he married a beautiful blonde Iron Range girl, Nancy Ann Stolpe, from Chisholm, who shared Bill's love of fun, travel, music and dancing.By 1950, Bill had graduated from Navy flight school, served as a Marine flight instructor and Corsair pilot in World War II, and worked as a broadcast reporter for the CBS Bureau in Paris, France.He earned his B.A. degree from the University of Minnesota in the fledgling field called Broadcast Journalism, while working for KSTP radio in St. Paul.He worked at WFMG in Hibbing, and advanced his career at KEYZ in Williston, North Dakota, where he also starred in community theatre.

By the time Bill and Nancy had four children, they settled in Glasgow where Bill was one of the co-founders of KLTZ and operated the station hands-on until 1969, when he moved to Great Falls.Eventually, he owned several stations across the state which he supervised flying his private plane over thousands of Montana miles.Flying continued to be a beloved hobby, especially in his twin-engine Beech Baron.
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Bill dreamt up hundreds of promotions on KLTZ, many that are still in existence today.He once rode a VW bug down Main Street and rode a horse into the Oasis Bar.

In the 1970's, Bill was drawn to the Flathead Lake cherry country.He bought a summer orchard near Yellow Bay with 700 trees, ran the harvest every summer with help from the family, and enjoyed doing most of the pruning and maintenance himself.Later, they moved to a smaller orchard.Bill loved the grand vista of Montana and the dark earth of its valleys.He loved boating on Fort Peck Lake and Flathead and taking the Missouri River Cruise from Fort Benton.He loved the contrasts of Montana, the new whiteness of winter, and the budding of the trees.He often said he was "a Montanan who happened to be born in Minnesota."Ever the promoter, he had found his niche in the radio business with its news and advertising excitement.Bill believed a radio station lived with the pulse of the community, a standard that KLTZ/KLAN holds to this day.

Bill suffered Parkinson's disease for over a decade.Since October, 2000, he resided at Lake View Car Center, where he loved and appreciated the staff and their caring ways.Bill kept good spirits through his later difficult years and had a connection with everyone.

To the end, he enjoyed his friends and family.Bill was especially fond and proud of his 6 grandchildren, who loved Grampa Bill with all their hearts.

There will be a service held to celebrate Bill's life at the Little Brown Church in Bigfork, on April 9th, at 1 p.m.He will be accorded military and Masonic honors at a grave side ceremony following.

Shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday, pilot William Willis of Kentucky called into the Kirsch Airport to say he was having problems with his landing gear.Emergency crews rushed to the scene.Willis managed to safely nose the plane onto the runway and walk off the tarmac.

Willis was in the area to sell his plane.

Follows the lifes & Work of two GIU Agents under the strict command of their Planet's Ruler Governor William Willis.Filming Starts April-May 2006. (12 x 1 hr)

Episode I : The Governor is assassinated therefore allowing Governor William Willis to take over.The GIU investigates the suicide of a Military General.Governor Willis appoints his Government.