William James Wilson

William (Bill) James Wilson, Jr., passed away on October 14, 2021 in Kyle, Texas, after a short bout with cancer. He was 68 years old.

Bill was born on July 4th, 1953 in Baytown, Texas. Although born in Baytown, Bill spent the first 13 years of his life living in Venezuela where his father worked for Creole Petroleum Corporation. The family moved several times while in Venezuela, spending time in small, out of the way oil camps such as Caripito and Quiriquire. In 1966, Venezuela nationalized the oil industry and booted most foreign nationals out of the country. The family returned to Texas to live in Crosby for 2 years before permanently settling in Corpus Christi where Bill attended W.B. Ray High School and graduated as the class Salutatorian in 1971. He then left for college at Rice University in Houston, graduating in 1975 with a BSEE and in 1976 with an MEE. After graduation, Bill spent a few years working at Texas Instruments in Houston. While at TI, he became interested in the stock market and soon realized investing was the path he wanted to follow as it would allow him to be independent and be his own boss. After leaving TI, he never looked back and was his own boss as a successful investor for almost 40 years. As an investor, Bill pioneered the work from home concept starting in the mid-80's, long before it recently became popular.

Bill was an incredible engineer. He put his Rice education to good use, first, at Texas Instruments and then afterward when he was always tinkering with electronics and writing software. Bill had an insatiable curiosity which moved him to figure out how things worked. He built from scratch stereos and speakers, radio receivers, telescopes (with home ground mirrors), and computers which used his homegrown UNIX based OS. Bill also developed and supported a couple of software open source projects - GKrellM, a computer system monitor, and PiKrellCam, a video security system.

Bill very much enjoyed working with his hands. After years of living in Houston and Friendswood, Texas, he bought land in Buda, Texas, where he eventually built a house into which he moved in 2014. He did most of the interior work himself. He laid all the floor and bathroom tile, finished the plumbing and interior trim, made all the kitchen and bathroom cabinets including the granite countertops, and installed all the interior lights. He especially enjoyed woodworking. He mastered techniques for putting beautiful finishes on his work and sometimes surprised family and friends with gifts of furniture.

Growing up, Bill always said all the fireworks on July 4th were a celebration of his birthday. Bill was also a bit of a practical joker, especially around Christmas time. He loved to make it a challenge for his gift recipients to figure out which gift was theirs. He would often mislabel presents or even not label them at all. He would sometimes also make it difficult to unwrap presents through copious use of duct tape and other difficult unwrapping methods.

Bill was fiercely loyal and dependable. His family and friends could always count on him to help no matter the problem. He would always show up with a trunk full of tools ready to solve problems or just help.

Bill was preceded in passing by his parents, William James Wilson, Sr. and Ora Faye Lostak Wilson and his brother-in-law, Rick Smith of Richards, Texas. Bill never married and is survived by his family of three siblings: Mary Anne Smith, Carolyn Wilson, and Jesse Wilson and wife Jackie and their kids Marshall, Madeleine, and Cornel; numerous cousins; and his very dear friends Betty Tillman, Josh and Traci Tillman, and Sara Jur. Bill's untimely passing has left a very large hole in all our hearts. He will be dearly missed.

In remembrance of Bill, please make a contribution to the American Cancer Society in Bill's name.