William Moreland

William Michael Moreland was born in Washington, D.C. on May 16, 1916 in Georgetown University Hospital in a time when baby books still mentioned “Baby’s First Short Dress.” He lived at 1503 Harvard Street, N.W, Washington, D.C. from birth until marriage to his wife of 67 years, Jean Anne Gleason Moreland. He met his wife when she came to D.C. from New Hampton, Iowa to work as a secretary for the Federal Bureau of Investigation during World War II. Many families rented rooms to a growing Federal government work force at that time. Jean and another young lady from her hometown roomed in his mother’s living room for a short while. A year and a half later, he and Jean married on January 29, 1945 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in New Hampton, Iowa and honeymooned in Chicago and New York City. In his early years, William went to school at Sacred Heart Academy, McKinley Tech, Roosevelt, and Central High Schools. William also helped out at his family’s grocery store, W. S. Moreland Company at 1113 15th Street, N.W. where paying for groceries on credit was a common occurrence. He also frequented his grandfather’s farm located behind St. John’s College High School. William told stories of riding in a horse and buggy along a winding dirt cow path (now Military Road) to get to the farm. Although the farm house is now gone, Moreland Street in N.W. Washington, D.C. still marks the path to the family homestead. William’s uncles also owned property in what is now Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. but lost the property and the family grocery store in the Great Depression. William also loved to ride the street cars in Washington and spent summers at the Chesapeake Bay enjoying swimming, sail boating, and crabbing. William suffered from pneunomia and was cured in 1934 by a new “miracle” drug, penicillin. During this illness his parents were very worried about who would pass on the family name since another older male sibling had died at birth. William leaves seven children, nine grandchildren, and two great grandchildren. Their first child Thomas Michael Moreland was born on November 29, 1945. About twenty years later, they had their seventh child, Paula Jean Moreland (Heynen) on July 14, 1965. The five “middle children,” Daniel, Susan, Mark, Richard, and Janet, were born in between those years. William studied bookkeeping, typing, and business arithmetic for a year (1936 to 1937) at Poteets Business College. He studied by correspondence from 1937 until 1939 at Lewis Hotel Training Course. He attended night school from 1940-1941 where he took Granville B. Jacobs Courses, “Talking and Thinking on Your Feet” and “Strategy in Dealing with People.” William attended the Catholic University School of Engineering where he took the National War Training Course (Organization, Control and Foremanship Training) in 1944.William was an enterprising youth who saved his money from a newspaper route and sold crabs to fund his sailboat. He started working as a soda clerk for Guest Services, Inc. (GSI) in 1934 when the company was called the Washington Tourist Camp. He moved up from soda clerk to senior cafeteria manager by the time he retired almost 50 years later in 1981 and moved to Albuquerque, N.M. William managed various cafeteria locations for GSI, including the Veterans Administration, Navy, and Potomac Park. William had his own painting and handy man business that he worked at “on the side” while working at GSI. He worked for many neighbors and friends and taught his children his work and his strong work ethic.William also worked for Arthur Murray as a ballroom dance instructor and had his own company where he provided recorded dance, music, and public address systems as an amplification service. During retirement he continued his love of dance and music. William and Jean took square dance lessons and enjoyed dancing with two different square dance groups in Albuquerque, N.M, Church House Squares and Levi’s and Lace. “Wild Bill” and his “Partner Jean” danced for many years during their retirement. They also enjoyed hiking the Sandia mountain range, traveling, and cruising to Hawaii, Alaska, South America, and the Caribbean. “Wild Bill” was a sharp-witted special soul who is best known for his love of life, music, dance, and fun balanced with a very strong work ethic and sense of right vs. wrong. He loved his wife, “Butch,” and all of his family. He was a wonderful provider, father, husband, uncle, and friend.

William Moreland

May 16, 1916 - June 19, 2012