"I WOULDN'T BE DEAD
FOR A DOLLAR A WEEK AND MY KEEP."
William Albert KILROY
Born:
William Albert "BILL"
Kilroy was born in Narrabeen.
He was the eldest living child of a family of three, his sister died
before Bill was born.
Bill has a delightful
sense of humour despite having had to overcome serious health problems
including a leg amputation, and five cardiac operations.
Bill jokes about his health problems and quotes his doctor as saying,
"Bill, you've got more lives than a cat."
Bill went to school at
Manly West Primary and Manly Boys Intermediate High.
He left school at 15 and worked for a Neon Light Company.
At 17 he enlisted in the Navy and served five years at sea.
After the war, Bill joined the merchant Navy and travelled the world.
Bill married his beloved
wife Eugenie (Jeannie) in 1946 and they had a daughter and a son.
They have two grandsons and two great-grandsons.
Jeannie also lives at the
Despite having many
difficulties and hardships to overcome in his life, including the separation
of his parents, the problems associated with the Depression, unemployment and
no social services, Bill has an optimistic and cheerful personality.
He defines the futility of worrying as "being like a rocking chair -
it gives you something to do, but won't get you anywhere."
Bill’s story "Life
Experience” illustrates the powerful impact on a child’s emotions of such a
painful episode; its effects remain unforgettable.
Bill told the story because he wanted to let children know that you
can overcome terrible events in life if you remain firm in your beliefs and
stay optimistic.
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery,
today is a gift."
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Life Experience
by
Bill Kilroy
Hello children, I am sorry
I can’t be here today but I would like you to listen to my little story.
When I was 5½ years of age my family broke up and I was kidnapped.
My father took me away to Mona Vale firstly, then Sydney and St.
Mary’s Cathedral and kitted me out in new clothes and took me to a convent
which I believe was somewhere around Liverpool.
I was there for either four or five weeks, I can’t remember that far
back. It seemed like four or five
years that I hadn’t seen my Mum.
Eventually he came and collected me and took me back to the place that he
brought me to on the night that he kidnapped me which was under the
Later that day, it was a Friday
again, he said, “How would you like to see your Mother”?
Well I nearly jumped over the moon.
That night he took me to Circular Quay and pointed to a lady along the
quay, it was Friday night and very crowded, and then he said there’s you
Mother along there in the red hat.
So I took off like a rocket and grabbed my Mum’s hand and said,
“Here’s Dad behind us”. Then I
turned around but he wasn’t behind us, I just saw his back disappearing
through the crowd and it was the last I saw of him.
He moved his job on the Manly ferries up to the
Now what I want to convey to you
children is that you can not erase the past, we all make mistakes, men,
women, children, everybody. There
is not a person on this earth that hasn’t made a mistake.
Try and remember not to make the same mistake twice if in fact it was
the wrong thing to do and to shore that part up, I work on the proviso that,
“Yesterday was history, tomorrow is a mystery, today
is a gift.” I hope you can unscramble that when you get in the privacy of
your own mind.
As I said before, I am sorry
that I won’t be here but I hope that it will help you understand life and I
wish you all the very best for your future health and happiness and thanks
for listening to me.