Billy Kohl

January 8 is Billy's Birthday

I share this with you to celebrate the life of our friend Billy Kohl. Billy was many different things to each of us. He was a sportsman. He loved the outdoors. He was a “character.” He loved to joke around, have fun and laugh with his friends. Billy was a generous person. It made him happy to do things for people, and to share with his friends. And most of all, Billy was a loving person. He was a loving father and he loved his family and his friends.

I have known Billy for a long time. One of my earliest recollections of Billy is when he was playing basketball in the 9th grade at Alice Drive Middle School. That’s right, playing basketball. He was the smallest guy on the team, but he had the biggest hustle. He always gave it 110%. He was the star of the team, because he was the most fun to watch.

In high school, Billy always had a job so he could earn some extra money. His most famous job was when he worked at the car wash on the corner of Broad St. and Miller Rd. He knew every single person that came through the car wash by name and he knew exactly what they wanted for their car. When Billy was in action at the car wash, it was like listening to a symphony orchestra. He was the epitome of suave; everything was so smooth.

When we were in high school there was no doubt what Billy was spending his money on: clothes. Billy was always sharp. His shoes were shined, his shirts pressed to perfection, and not a wrinkle in his pants. His senior year Billy was chosen as a senior superlative. He was voted “best dressed” by his classmates. Billy was sharp.

In those early high school years we loved to spend the night at Billy’s house on the weekends, particularly if we were planning to be extra mischievous. You see, Billy’s mom was hard of hearing. She wore hearing aids. At night, when she went to bed, she would take her hearing aids out and lay them on the night stand. She couldn’t hear a thing. She would sleep through anything. Back in those days even boys had curfews. We would come in on time, tell Billy's mom good night and then after she was asleep, sneak out again. Well.... one weekend Billy’s older sister, Pam, was home from college and she caught us sneaking back in Billy’s bedroom window at 3a.m. We had been having too much “underage” fun and got in big trouble.

When Billy got out of the Army, he became a salesman and was very successful. He won numerous awards. He was salesman of the year, year after year. Eddie and I used to tease him about his plaques, which he proudly displayed. Billy was a hard worker.

Billy was a sportsman. He developed his love of the outdoors at an early age. When we were young, anything with fur, feathers, or fins was in mortal danger. Spencer, Hugh, Billy, and I had many an adventure. In time, Billy’s real love became fishing. He was a member of the Sumter Bass Masters. He won fishing tournaments on numerous occasions. Billy could catch fish, big fish. There is a picture of David and him holding a string of so many bass, that are so heavy, it looks like they are both about to have a stroke. I’m sure David will confirm that Billy caught all those fish. :)

Billy was a character. He loved to joke around and have a good time. His presence would always fill the room. There was an ambiance about him that was so engaging. He was always playing tricks and making people laugh. When Billy was in the hospital a while back when he had gotten burned, he was tying dollar bills onto fishing line and laying them in the hallway outside his room. When someone would come along and get ready to pick it up, Billy would jerk the line. Billy was one of a kind. You know he brushed his teeth in the shower. He was a clean fellow… When he got out of the shower he wanted to be clean in every way. We all have a Billy story. We can all tell something silly or outrageous he did to get a laugh. He loved seeing his friends have a good time.

Billy was a generous person. He would give you the shirt off his back. He loved to entertain his friends. Cooking fish and sharing it with his friends was one of his favorite things to do. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of people have eaten food cooked by Billy. He loved giving to others. He would always try to give you food to take home. "Let me fix you a plate", he would say.
When I became the principal of Millwood, Billy found an old mounted pintail at Mom’s house that I had killed while hunting with him when we were in high school. He secretly had it restored and put it in my office as a special gift to help celebrate my success.

Billy was generous with his time. He loved to take people fishing. He taught many a kid how to fish. He loved pulling kids on the tube behind his boat. He pulled my kids lots of times. He loved helping kids. He taught my niece how to water-ski. He was a coach. He helped coach some of Justin’s Little League teams. There used to be a picture of Billy and Spencer on the wall at the Y. They had long hair. They were coaching a YMCA Little League football team. Billy helped me with my house: we put down a hardwood floor together with one of his staple guns. Billy was always doing something to help someone. Billy’s heart was as big as the lake that he loved so much. He was a generous person.

Billy was a loving person. He was a loving father. He loved his son Justin so much. He loved to take Justin fishing. He had Justin's first fish mounted. It was a little bass that weighed about a half/pound. The size really didn’t matter at all to Billy, he was so proud of Justin. He bragged about Justin playing football in high school. Justin went to Clemson and was a successful student. Billy was always talking about how well Justin was doing. Billy was proud of Justin. Justin now has a wonderful wife, Christine, has a great job and is doing well after college. If you were in a hurry, it just wasn’t a good idea to ask Billy about Justin. You could tell how much Billy loved Justin. And we all know how much Billy loved his friends because we all experienced that love first hand. Billy was a loving person.

Life is difficult. We all have our crosses to bear and our demons to face.......
But, when it is all said and done, the question is, what will be our legacy? Today we might reflect on Billy’s legacy. If he could speak to us today, I think he would tell us to get out and enjoy the great outdoors. He’d tell us to spend some time with our family and friends in this beautiful world with which we are blessed. I think he would tell us to laugh, and enjoy each other. To cut up and be light hearted. I think he would tell us to be generous. He would tell us to give our time, energy and resources to our friends, family and to people we don't even know.

When I think of you all,I think of people that Billy loved and people that loved him. That brings me to the most important thing I think Billy would tell us.
And that is to love one another. To take care of each other, to allow others to love us, to knock down those things that separate us and keep us apart.
But you know, Billy has already told us these things. He told us these things by the way he lived. That is his legacy to us. The way he lived. That is how we should honor and remember Billy.
December 30, 2005