BY CHUCK FIELDMAN | cfieldman@pioneerlocal.com July 15, 2013 2:38PM
Longtime Oak Brook residents Bill and Jean Bristow celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary April 25. | Chuck Fieldman?Sun-Times Media
storyidforme: 52160424
tmspicid: 19336034
fileheaderid: 8781891
Name: Bill Bristow
Date of birth: July 11, 1926
Favorite food: wife?s pecan pie
Favorite TV show: Fox News
Hobby: used to do a lot of woodworking
Updated: July 15, 2013 3:15PM
OAK BROOK
Bill Bristow celebrated his 87th birthday a day early with an experience he?ll always remember. The 45-year Oak Brook resident participated July 10 in a Chicago Honor Flight program trip to Washington, D.C. The program was started in 2008 to recognize U.S. veterans with a day of honor, remembrance and celebration, and flies the veterans to tour war memorials and other sights.
Q. What was the most memorable part of your trip?
A. When we got back, there were more than 1,000 people at the airport. There was a band and bagpipes and all of these people cheering for us and thanking us for our service. It was having some young people shake my hand and thank me that was really special. It meant a lot to me to get that from young people because I served for our young people.
Q. When did you serve and in what branch of the service?
A. I was in the Navy from Dec. 5, 1944 to July 1946. I went to radar operator school, and I was in Japan for the surrender. I remember seeing a Japanese man and woman in a boat, and they bowed to our ship when it passed them in the Tokyo Bay.
Q. What prompted you to want to participate in an honor flight?
A. I actually wasn?t going to go because I had spent a lot of time in Washington D.C. when I worked. I didn?t want to take a spot from another vet who had never been there, but a number of people told me I should go, and it turned out to be a great trip. One of my sons, who had been in the Air Force, went along as my guardian.?
Q. What kind of work did you do before you retired?
A. I was a project manager for a company, Harza Engineering Company, that did dams and hydroelectric power plants. I worked for them for 41 years and really enjoyed my job. The only thing I sometimes didn?t like was traveling because it took me away from my wife and family.
Q. You and your wife, Jean, celebrated your 60th wedding anniversary April 25. What?s been the biggest key to a long, happy marriage?
A. I was very selective in picking out a good partner. We had five boys and a girl, and our family has always been very close. We have children and grandchildren living all over the place now, but we get together every other year and take a family trip. I?m most proud of our family, that our kids like to get together with us, and they like to get together with each other.
Q. You have done a lot of traveling over the years. Do you still enjoy it?
A. We?ve had a lot of wonderful trips. Sometimes, I?d like to nail my shoes to the ground now, though, because it gets more difficult to travel.
Q. Why did you move to Oak Brook 45 years ago?
A. My wife and I both are from Chicago. I wanted to live someplace where I knew they had good schools. We bought a lot in Hinsdale in 1953 for $900 and built a house there. We lived there for 15 years, but we outgrew that house and moved here. There was really nothing along York Road here when we moved here, but it sure is busy with traffic now.
Q. What do you like best about living in Oak Brook?
A. I like the Sports Core, and I like Graue Mill and Fullersburg Woods. We walk a lot in Fullersburg. It?s a great place for taking walks.
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