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Bio:
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William (Bill) Neal (by his son, Fred) |
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Bill
was born in Mill Valley, California, in 1924. He attended school up until the fourth grade where he started a
life of becoming self sufficient out of necessity as a house painter. Somewhere around the age of 14 he started
carving decoys, hunting with them and selling them at $5.00 a pair at Redwood
Sport Shop in San Rafael. He then
entered the Army/Airforce in WWII as a B-17 Gunner. He was shot down over Germany and was captured and placed in a
German Concentration Camp. He
survived the war with only a small shrapnel wound in his lower lip/chin, but
lost a lot of weight, I believe he weighed 112 pounds leaving Germany. I remember being told by his cousin from
Oregon, John Bock, that Bill had stated he would never ever go hungry again
and that was when he started growing a yearly garden. I remember growing up helping picking and
cutting up green beans, shucking corn, picking Boysenberries, and so on. We always had good food in my growing up
years.
Bill
was hired at Sonoma State Hospital sometime in the early 1950s as a Painter
and retired from this work in the 1980s. Bill continues to remain active carving decoys, fishing and
hunting, and keeping the vegetables growing from the garden. Bill’s hobbies include in order: Fishing and Hunting, Gardening, Carving Redwood Working Decoys (Mainly Ducks, but some Geese & other birds), reading, watching sports, and spending time with family and friends.
Here are a couple internet links I found pertaining to Bill’s decoy carving: · King Quack Jr.- Bill Neal Decoys · Biography of Bill Neal by Mike Thompson (US Congress - CA Rep) Some stories of life as I remember them. In the earliest years, I remember dad taking us for car rides (starting somewhere before the age of one for me – looking at the old metal bridges on my back) visiting my Grandma Myrtle and my Aunt Viola, both relatives from my mom’s side of the family. I was Grandma’s favorite as I remember and she told me “you can be the President if you set your mind to it.” She was always a positive person and I miss her. I remember Aunt Viola and her home in Napa more mainly as a place the family went on holidays to eat food and just stay in touch. Viola has two daughters, Linda and Judy; and although I was several years younger, we played together during our visits. Later on, I remember dad taking all of us on fishing trips. One memorable trip was out on San Pablo Bay in the Spring when I was about 10 years old with Raymond and dad. We launched a 14’ duck boat across a mud flat to get to the Petaluma River early in the morning (I think trips fishing & hunting are early in the morning). First thing noted by dad, no bait, so back across the mud flat and dad went back to the house for some bait (sardines – I think). He came back about a 1/2 hour later and off we went out off Novato Creek in San Pablo Bay, back then it was deeper water in the area. Dad tossed our baits out and we waited. We did not have to wait long as we saw schools of Stripers coming our way. For several hours we hooked big powerful Stripe Bass (Stripers) up to 28 pounds, and finally ended the day with eight fish ranging from 16 to 28 pounds. Around the age of 12, dad got me interested in deer hunting up in Yolo County at my grandma’s hunting camp. I remember lots of multi-kill trips as this was group hunting with dogs. I enjoyed the exercise and the family experience. Dad still hunts here occasionally with Uncle Neil (my mom’s brother) who currently owns the property. I continued fishing and hunting with dad up until I joined the Army.
Currently as of this year – 2004, I still share some of dad’s passions of the outdoors in the form of fishing. You can see what I am up to by checking out my personal webpage at: Fred's Fishing Hole |
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