Bill began his Rotary journey in 1995 as an obligatory Rotarian when more or less directed to join his local club as an expectation that accompanied new responsibilities as the town’s city manager. “I never wanted to belong to any service club,” he recalls. But it didn’t take long for him to experience the satisfaction and personal rewards realized from fellowshipping with like-minded neighbors and community leaders committed to making a positive difference at home and abroad.

At the 2011 D5110 Conference in Coos Bay, Bill and PDG Bob Kings raised $15,000 for The Rotary Foundation by allowing their heads to be ceremoniously shaved by PRIP Ray Klinginsmith and PDG Jim Lussier.

Bill was raised in the Midwest and graduated with degrees in geography from Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin and Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. He and his wife Linda live in Coos Bay where Linda is founder and CEO of South Coast Hospice. They have four adult children and seven grand-children, all living in Oregon. They enjoy time with family, their two Yorkshire Terriers, a cat named Thunder and maintaining six tropical fish aquariums at home.

Bill has served as President of the Coos Bay – North Bend Rotary Club and Springfield Rotary Club. He was an early graduate of the D5110 Leadership Academy, was Sgt. at Arms for the D5110 Conference, chaired the D5110 Rotary Friendship Exchange Committee, has served as Assistant Governor and D5110 Trainer, is a Rotary Leadership Institute Facilitator, and has served on many committees.

This is a great meeting to invite a guest–but please RSVP for your guest(s) to Brian Shawver (brian@securityprosbend.com), so that we can arrange for enough meals to be prepared.

Kilong Ung is a survivor of the genocide in Cambodia. He escaped with about half his family when he was a young teenager, and came to the US as a refugee. He went to Reed College, then grad school in mathematics, then worked as a consultant for Arthur Anderson and STEP Technology in Portland, before leaving the tech world to start his own insurance agency in Portland.

He’s been in the documentary film The Bombhunters (director Skye Fitzgerald was named a Fulbright Scholar to research and produce that film), TV shows Deadliest Warrior and Deadliest Warrior Aftermath, and the documentary Risking Light.

He published a book about his journey, and started Golden Leaf Education Foundation, which so far has raised money for and completed building 5 schools in Cambodia.