I have been fortunate enough to know Bill for almost my whole life. Bill and Deven have been close friends of my parents since before I was born in 1976. This friendship our families both have led to my sister and I growing up spending time with the Hearne kids. When I look back on Bill’s life I feel very fortunate to have known Bill and Deven as I was a child, young man, and as an adult.
When I was younger, my sister, father, and myself would go camping each summer with Bill, James (we called him Jamie back then), Libby, and Jennet. Each year we camped at a different park across New York State. We shared a camp site and had all kinds of fun hiking, swimming, playing wiffle ball, cooking, building campfires, and roasting marshmallows. Rain or shine we always went, and we always had fun.
Our two families have rented adjacent cabins on Eagle Craig Lake in the Adirondacks for at least the last 20 years. We would swim together, hike together, canoe, have more camp fires, singing, story telling, and staying up late watching the stars. I climbed most of the Adirondack high peaks I’ve done in the region with the Hearne family as well. I remember climbing Big Slide with Bill when he reached the final of the ADK 46 highest peaks. When we reached the top someone had brought Champaign. Bill had a drink and remarked “Champaign never tastes as good as it does on top of a mountain.”.
There was never a shortage of noise coming from the Hearne cabin, and it echoed across the lake, so I am sure everyone knew when we were renting those two cabins. I never thought about this until now, but one things I am REALLY going to miss is the sounds of Bill and Deven arguing in the cabin. After finishing our meal at the Eschmann cabin, us kids would trickle down to the beach area to watch the sun go down. Inevitably the Hearne’s would still be finishing dinner or doing the dishes, and some sort of difference of opinion would pop up, and we would be serenaded with the sounds of Bill and Deven discussing this difference of opinion. Yes Deven, it echoed across the lake, and I will miss it immensely.
Bill really could make friends with anyone. If you have hiked with Bill in the Adirondacks, you probably know that when he was doing his 46 peaks, he did the tailless ones FIRST. He was fond of that story, as I recall, and not bashful of sharing it with any and everyone he met on the trail. I also am pretty sure that Bill was responsible for the Ausable club not allowing hikers to ride the bus any more. You see, after one of our hikes of the high peaks, we raced down the mountain to try and catch the last bus back to the parking lot. As we flagged down the bus, the driver was not about to let a dirty sweaty shirtless Bill Hearne and a group of dirty kids aboard the bus until he put his shirt back on. He did, but it was no match for the smell of hours of hiking. I’m pretty sure the next year the club changed their rules to not allow non-club members aboard the buses.
Seeing Bill and the Hearne family every year up at the Adirondacks is something I will always treasure. Our two families grew older together. As I graduated High School, College, and eventually started working at Kodak, Bill and Deven were always there to hear how things were going, offer advice, and Bill shared stories of his hikes, swims, and bike rides. It’s amazing to look back and see how easily the transition went from “Good afternoon Mr and Mrs Hearne.” to “Hey Bill and Deven, nice to see you again, need a beer Bill?”. Bill always made things like that easy.
It’s tough to balance the sorrow I feel when I think of Bill’s passing, with the positive feelings I know I should have over the wonderful life Bill led and the many lives Bill has touched. When I think of Bill I will try and remember what Libby said at the Memorial Service, that Bill was a “freakishly cheerful” man, and that’s the way I want to remember him.
- David Eschmann
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