On March 13th at approximately 4:00 pm one of Caroline County’s most beautiful people transitioned to their rightful place among the angels. Mr. Bill Greenly died at peace in his home which is where he wanted to be when he took his last breath.

Four months shy of his 97th birthday Bill lived a unique life as a bachelor, he never married, nor did he have children. He did not drink, smoke, or gamble. His was a simple lifestyle keeping his mind busy painting, following his beloved Orioles, staying up to date on current events and politics and staying in touch with close friends. He lived life on his terms without interference of a spouse or children, not that having a spouse, or children is a dreadful thing. Bill was perfectly content with living alone. His only survivors are a nephew and Niece and a lot of close friends.

I met Bill about 20 years ago when he approached me at a time that I was serving on the Caroline County Board of Education and he was advocating for the installation of the a plague commemorating Denton’s being the home of two governors from two states, Governor Harry Hughes of Maryland and Governor of Delaware Sherman Tribbett. Bill was a friend of Governor Harry Hughes since boyhood. He had a lot of stories of growing up in Denton during the depression and his escapades with Harry.

Although they served as governor in two different states during two different times, Sherman Tribbett was elected for a single term from 1973-1977 and Harry Hughes 2 terms from 1979 to 1987, all three of them grew up within a block of each other in Denton on Franklin St. The plague Bill advocated for is at the corner of 2nd St and Franklin adjacent to the Board of Education parking lot.

It is from this community project that my friendship with Bill began. Over time our friendship grew closer.

Bill had a fascinating career that took him all over the United States, Australia, and Europe. He began working with General Motors Acceptance Corp (GMAC) in the early 1950’s as an account representative lending money to individuals to purchase General Motors vehicles. Borrowers who paid were easy for Bill. Borrowers that didn’t were his responsibility to collect.

Bill had a remarkable memory and he recalled numerous “problem borrowers” who he kept in regular contact because he had to collect their payments in person. If he didn’t the payments would not have been made.

Bill’s career with GMAC evolved to the point that he became a field auditor who reported directly to the Chief Financial Officer of GMAC. His job took him all over the world and the United States visiting dealerships or GMAC field offices where he reviewed the compliance with corporate policies and procedures and financial management.

Bill loved to travel and spend time in various parts of the country and the world. His assignments usually lasted weeks and in some cases months. Without the responsibilities of being a husband and father he was able to take on the tasks needed and commit the time necessary until the job was completed.

One of the fascinating things about Bill is that he did his job at a time when an auditor’s equipment was an adding machine, a ledger book, and a legal pad. The audits that Bill did that took weeks can now be done by accountants/auditors in the matter of hours if not minutes today. To say that Bill was “old school” would be an understatement.

He never owned a computer, cell phone or pager. He would marvel at how a smartphone works and how Google would give you multiple sources of information for a single inquiry. But his fascination was usually short lived as he had no interest in exploring exactly how all this “technology” worked. A TV remote and an answering machine was the extent of Bill’s use of technology if you consider a TV remote and answering machine to be “technology.”

Bill was a child of the depression and as such was extremely frugal with his resources. Those closest to him would actually consider him “tight.” I will venture a guess and say that I do not think a year went by where Bill could not account for 90%-100% of his spending went. Anything left over was saved, and saved he did. His frugality allowed him to retire in his early 60’s and focus on caring for his mother Elizabeth who lived with him and passed away in December of 2002.

It was in 2002 that he dedicated a significant amount of his savings to establish the William Greenly Scholarship Fund for graduating seniors of North Caroline High School. Currently the Fund awards $20,000 scholarships to two graduating seniors of North Caroline High School. The award is paid $5,000 annually for the entire 4 years of an undergraduate bachelor’s degree and is one of the largest scholarships awarded.

Thus far the fund has awarded scholarships to 32 students for a total of $600,000 in financial aid to deserving NCHS students over the last 24 years. The Greenly Scholarship represents Bill’s commitment to higher education, but his commitment was not without concern for the escalating costs of higher education. When he attended Washington College in the late 1940’s tuition and room and board was $500 per year. Today the cost of a year at a private university is in the $60,000 range.

To engage in an initial conversation with Bill you quickly find that you are talking about yourself. He was truly interested in you and would ask questions. Where do you live? How long have you lived there, what do you do? Are you married, do you have children, where did you go to school, are you related to so and so. Depending on your answer would dictate the direction of the next question.

As I age and find my memory not as “fresh” as it used to be I was utterly amazed at how much he recalled things that happened in his life 50 years ago. And details about people he knew and worked with. I didn’t realize how much enjoyment I got from his stories about his job and the details of the personalities whose path he crossed in doing his job. He worked with and investigated some very interesting people. Much the same as I have in my mortgage lending career.

Having had the pleasure of knowing Bill as I did, you realize what an incredibly good friend he was. I do not know how many times he would ask me “where are you now” during our many phone calls, which immediately would lead to me responding not only where I was but what I was doing. And if he ever called me, he first asked “is this a good time to talk.” And how I will miss his parting comment when ending a conversation….” Be careful out there.”

Denton and Caroline County has lost a big piece of living history. Bill Greenly experienced the Depression of the 30’s to the evolution of the technology age and everything in between. He had no desire or reason to embrace technology, so he didn’t.

What he did do was focus on what is important in the world, our relationships with each other. He rarely spoke negatively about anyone or anything, with one exception. Only those who knew Bill well know exactly what I am referring to.

He was very frugal and prudent with his finances that allowed him to share and support things that were important to him. Primarily helping young people afford the cost of higher education. There are many other local charities that have benefitted from his generosity.

I consider myself incredibly lucky and blessed to have befriended Bill Greenly. There are many others who feel the same way. Although Bill was not what I would call a religious man I stand by my initial comment at the beginning of this article.
Bill is with the angels, and he is truly at peace. Thank you Bill for having been an important person in my life.

Mr. Rowe is Vice President/Lending for Bay Capital Mortgage Corp. with offices in Easton and Annapolis. He has lived in Caroline for his entire life and supports the county by volunteering in a variety of ways. He currently lives near Greensboro with his wife Jeanne and daughter Kelsey.