mattersmagazine.com 43 SMALL WORKS, BIG GIFTS ART PERFECT FOR GIFT-GIVING PAINTINGS...CERAMICS… UNIQUE JEWELRY...PRINTS… ACCESSORIES AND HOME DÉCOR… 100 BAKER STREET MAPLEWOOD REGULAR STORE HOURS: WED-FRI 11AM-6PM SATURDAY 10AM-6PM PLUS SPECIAL HOLIDAY HOURS DEDICATED TO THE ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AND THE CONTINUED ENRICHMENT OF SENIORS OPENING RECEPTION THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1 5-8PM Bill is extremely proud to have been part of the 4th Armored, 53rd AIB. In April 1945, he was one of the first to reach the camp at Ohrdruf, a Buchenwald satellite, and witnessed firsthand the horrors that had occurred there. “It still haunts me,” he says. After the end of the war, he came home to South Orange to marry his sweetheart, Janice Brodie. They moved to Burnett Avenue in Maplewood in 1960 and raised three children. “We loved this house the moment we first saw it.” He worked for a valve manufacturer for 31 years as an estimator and retired in 1978. He then went to work for a business on his wife’s side of the family in Virginia, traveling there a few times a year. He stopped that in 1995; that year his brother died, followed by his beloved Jan in 1996. “I miss them both terribly,” he says. Bill gave up driving a while ago, but still cuts his own grass and rakes his leaves. “It’s getting harder, I have to admit,” he confesses, but he is grateful to “have the best neighbors,” who do his snow shoveling and clearly are a wonderful part of his life. And, he adds, “My kids are a huge help to me.” Bill’s children, Bill Jr., June and Marilyn all live close by and are a continual support to their beloved father. “These are great towns,” Bill says of the only places he’s ever lived. One of Bill’s best friends since he was ten is Norman Ward, who also just celebrated his 100th birthday. Ward lives now in Roxbury. At Norm’s birthday celebration, they reminisced that as boys they painted a football white so they could play on summer nights. But they could not have predicted that someday they would celebrate these milestone birthdays together. “I am very grateful for my life,” says Bill, who claims he has no magic secret to longevity other than luck. He says he drinks an occasional beer and has always watched his diet. His outlook on life may be the real secret to his longevity. “I have a great family and the greatest neighbors,” he says with emphasis and a wide smile. Clearly his neighbors agree. He’s a treasure to all who know him. Karen Duncan is honored to have spent a delightful afternoon with Bill Hildebrand and is proud to now call him a friend. Bill and Jan married in 1946 and had three children: Bill, June (pictured left with their parents) and Marilyn. Bill’s large family celebrated his 100th birthday in October at his daughter’s home. Circa 1927, Bill and Bob Hildebrand in the front yard of their South Orange childhood home.“Wearewearingauthentic WWI helmets,” says Bill, who still has those helmets today. Bill Hildebrand’s senior photo in the 1936 Columbia High yearbook. 413 Centre Street, South Orange The Hildebrand Family, 1935. Herman, Juanita, Bob, Bill, Sue and Jane in front. “In 1929 when the stock market crashed it was a hard time on everyone,” Bill explains. “My folks almost lost their home. There was no unemployment insurance, no Social Security, no Medicare.” At Columbia High he was a long jumper. Six months after Bill came home from the war in 1945, General Patton died. “That was a sad day in my life,” he recalls.