Deceased February 4, 2021

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Shared by request of Bill's family, his memorial service will be held on Friday, August 20, 2021, at 11 a.m. EDT, at St. Henry's Catholic Church (6401 Harding Pike, Nashville, TN 37205).

In Memory

Our class and Amherst lost a good friend when Bill Towle passed away on Feb. 4, 2021, in Tennessee. Bill shared a room with Bill Taft ’54 and me at the Beta house our last two years at Amherst. Hugh Silbaugh ’54 joined us senior year. Silbaugh was witty, Taft studious and Towle fun-loving: a down-home Mr. Good-Natured Guy.

Born and raised in St. Paul, Bill was a passionate Minnesotan. I still hear echoes of his favorite song, “Let Me Be Your Salty Dog,” sung vigorously with other Minnesotans in our fraternity. Pre-med at Amherst, Bill was well-liked by all, evidenced by the fact that he was president of our fraternity and our class—positions earned through popularity and capability rather than politics.

Bill married the love of his life, Stephanie Hazelrigg (Mount Holyoke ’54) and enjoyed 65 years of bliss with her until his passing, leaving behind a grieving family of four daughters, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

After Amherst, Bill served in the U.S. Army as an agent with the Counterintelligence Corps from 1956 to 1958, then returned to civilian life to pursue a career in health care management. He earned a master’s degree at the University of Minnesota and went on to hold senior executive positions at Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, Roosevelt, Ascension St. Thomas and King Faisal (Saudi Arabia) hospitals during a 33-year career. Subsequently, he involved himself in volunteer capacities for several different nonprofit organizations in the health care field. In addition to being a family man, he was an advocate of health care as a human right rather than a privilege.

For those of us who knew Bill, nothing is more appropriate than the words of William Shakespeare: “But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, / All losses are restor’d, and sorrows end.”

Dean M. Laux ’54