“The neat thing about Kirkwood is that people will talk to you,” said Bill Carr, who has lived all over the country and couldn’t be happier to call Kirkwood his home.
“I have eight children, four boys and four girls. And they all excelled … just not in their studies,” laughed Bill.
You have never met a prouder father, grandfather and husband.
Bill met his wife, Karen, while he was in the Air Force in Sacramento in 1954. Bill was stationed with a pilot who invited him to come to dinner to meet his niece. “You know what happened after that? I married her,” smiled Bill.
He recalled his proposal and laughed. “We were having lunch in a bar, and I got down one knee. Karen stopped me and said, ‘Shut up! You are not going to propose to me in a bar.’ She made me go to Coit Tower in San Francisco to propose.”
Karen passed away in 2018. “I used to go to St. Peter Cemetery every day and say a Hail Mary at her grave site. Then I met a man from church whose wife was also buried there. I told him I’d say a prayer at his wife’s grave site while I was there.” Being one of the friendliest and most gregarious people you’ll ever meet, Bill naturally ended up praying for many people.
“I’d forget where I left off from the day before, so I started bringing pennies with me to mark the people that I prayed for,” stated Bill. “People would ask me how my day was going, and I’d say, “Pretty good. Today I went through about 80 pennies.’”
A friend of Bill’s suggested that he visit another cemetery in town, and he said, “Oh boy. Don’t get me going to another cemetery. I barely make it around this one and it costs me $5.”
If you happen to pass Bill walking around downtown Kirkwood and hear a jingle as he walks by, it’s either from the joy in his step or the pennies in his pocket.