Deceased July 16, 2007
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William W. "Bill" Price
Bill played football at Amherst all four years and kept coming back to the field he loved. Deep into old age, he was there in the stands intent on the game. He was also a sailor and world traveler during and after a career as realtor and insurance man.
A Class note he sent in 2006 bears repeating: “I went to the Amherst-Williams last fall, sat on both sides and didn’t see a single Amherst man of our time.”
Grandchildren cheering for alma maters Williams or Trinity would find Bill moving from side to side at Amherst games to be with them but also to root for his team.
A daughter, Susan Lester, wrote, “Sadly, my Dad passed away on July 16, peacefully. He had a good long life and was always so proud of his affiliation with Amherst College.”
Bill, ninety, died at a rest home in Westerly, RI, where he was born and raised and where he ran his own insurance company for many years. He was very active in civic affairs, serving as president of the historical society and as an officer of the library and hospital.
His wife of sixty-one years, Elizabeth Cinnamond (Skidmore ’38), died two years ago, and a sister also predeceased him. Besides Susan, he was survived by two other daughters, Nancy Olson and Joan Newfane, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
In coming to Amherst, Bill followed his father, Walter S. Price ’07. He prepared at Westerly High School, majored in economics, joined Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and was named to Sphinx.
In WWII, Bill served in the US Coast Guard as a lieutenant JG, based in Newport and Boston. He was to cruise those New England waters often again as a dedicated sailor in later life.
Bill kept traveling even as his own health was failing. In 2005, he ruefully told of an Elderhostel trip he took to Mexico where, because of heart trouble, the elevation affected him and he spent five days in the hospital.
Over the years, he attended Class Reunions and was one of the twelve who made it to their 65th in 2003. He also would travel from Rhode Island to a Westport, CT, restaurant where members of our so-called Eastern Establishment met occasionally.
George Bria ’38