Waters, William Clement 1933 - 2021
WATERS, BECKER, MOY, BATY, TAYLOR, FREDRICK, MOORE, LUMPE
Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 5/20/2021 at 17:18:37
William (Bill) Clement Waters of Mount Clemens died peacefully on April 26, 2021 after a short illness with cancer.
Survivors include Alice, his wife of 64 years, and his children Steven Waters (Jadine Moy) of San Ramon,CA, Michael Waters of Mount Clemens, Patrick Waters of Chicago, IL, Anne Baty (Donald) of Grosse Pointe Park, Julie Waters of Lawrence, KS, and Jean Taylor (Tim) of Livonia. He is also survived by his sisters Eva Fredrick of Bradenton, FL and Joy Moore of Spokane, WA and his grandchildren William and Christian Waters, David and Elana Baty, Kevin and Shannon Taylor, and Emma Lumpe and Mia Waters. He was preceded in death by his brother John Waters.
Bill was born on October 27, 1933 in Postville, Iowa to Clement Henry and Bernice Nina Waters. After attending a one-room schoolhouse through the 8th grade, he graduated from high school in Postville, IA. His education at Iowa State University was interrupted when he was drafted into the US Army. After serving from 1953 to 1955 in the Signal Corps, he returned to Iowa, and in 1956 married Alice Helena Becker whom he met on a blind date. In 1957 he graduated from Iowa State University with bachelors degrees in both agricultural and mechanical engineering. In 1961, while juggling a job and the demands of a growing family, he earned a masters in mechanical engineering from Wayne State University.
Bill worked for 28 years at General Motors Technical Center on Transmission Development and Advanced Product Engineering and then for 10 years for Electronic Data Systems, retiring in 1994. A pioneer in the development of computer-aided design software, his early work contributed to the development of computer models used in the automotive industry to simulate the impact of design and material changes on fuel economy. Portions of his programming work were later used by others in the aerospace industry. His passion for programming continued into his retirement where he dedicated countless hours to genealogy website development.
Prior to moving from Fraser to Mount Clemens in 1972, Bill was active in St. Anthanasius Church in many capacities, including serving in leadership positions on the Parent Teacher Guild, School Board, Church Council, and Credit Union, and was active in the Christian Family Movement and Marriage Encounter. Thereafter, he was a member of the St. Louis Parish for over forty years where he volunteered in efforts to help the homeless.
Although never a swimmer himself, all of his children participated on swim teams which he supported by serving as president of the neighborhood swimming club, president of the swim team parents club, and as the starter for swim meets. While not all of his children excelled equally as swimmers, they all learned the importance of both individual effort and teamwork.
As a strong advocate and supporter of education, he served on the Citizen Advisory Committee for Fraser Public Schools, on both the St. Athanasius and Fraser Public School Boards, and as President of the Friends of Fraser Library. When extracurricular activities were eliminated after a failed millage for the Mount Clemens Public School System, he was a leader in the Save Our Schools organization that successfully raised the funding to pay for those activities. He firmly believed that a strong educational system was important for all children and the key to the health of the community. Bill was a lifelong learner and in his later years was known to read several newspapers from cover-to-cover every day along with multiple magazines to keep up to date on current events, financial matters, natural history, and scientific developments. From birth, his children knew that they would graduate from college and his belief in education was very successful, with all six children attending college and earning degrees, including six bachelors degrees and seven graduate degrees. For many decades he and Alice enjoyed attending University of Michigan football games, a tradition that began while four of his children attended U of M.
He passed on his love of nature to his children by taking them on annual canoe and camping trips to Quetico, Isle Royale, the Canadian Rockies, Europe, Maine, and Colorado. These trips were in addition to the annual treks to the family farms in Iowa on both sides of the family which allowed him to share his experiences and memories of growing up on a dairy farm. In his retirement years, he and Alice continued to travel extensively and visited 43 countries on six continents. Several of these trips involved grandchildren, either taking them along, traveling to experience their performances or assisting in an adoption in China. He and Alice spent winters in Gulf Shores, AL for several decades.
He was the longest serving volunteer for the Great Lakes Education Program, a program that involved taking 4th graders out in a boat on Lake St. Clair to teach them about the marine environment. With help from his sister Joy, he served as webmaster for two genealogy websites on IAGenWeb. They also collaborated to photograph and index grave markers, match them with obituaries and then create comprehensive genealogy databases that will be an asset for years to come for researchers seeking to learn about residents of Winneshiek and Howard Counties in Iowa.
Being a farmer never left his blood. He was an avid gardener, originally focusing on vegetables, and later on flowers, including dahlias, daffodils, cannas, orchids, and clivia. His love of nature motivated him to landscape his backyard to include a habitat for wildlife.
In the last two decades of his life, after Alice developed memory loss, he was a tireless and devoted primary caregiver. His dedication to taking care of her as her illness progressed is a lasting lesson for his grandchildren on the true meaning of marriage vows. In addition to learning to cook and take care of domestic matters, he was ceaseless in his efforts to keep Alice living in her home, including installing an elevator, adding a wheelchair accessible shower and making other modifications to keep her safe.
Bill lived a full life. His dedication to his family, support of his community, intelligence, diversity of interests, humility, and many talents are all part of his legacy. While his family and friends are grieving his death, they will cherish his memory and be forever grateful for what he did to enrich and better their lives.
Memorial contributions can be made to St. Louis Parish to support their homeless assistance programs or to Michigan Sea Grant to fund education, research and outreach to conserve the Great Lakes.
Services will be held at St. Louis Parish, 24415 Crocker Blvd., Clinton Township, MI 48036 on Saturday, May 1, 2021 instate at 10:30AM with funeral mass at 11:00AM. Interment will follow at Resurrection Cemetery. Share memories and express condolences at the Vick Funeral Home website.
Source: Vick Funeral Home database
Vick Funeral Home
Clayton Obituaries maintained by Sharyl Ferrall.
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