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William Dean Liby, son of William Gaylord and Lois
Gertrude (Duncan) Liby, was born in Biggsville, IL, on 10 Aug 1929. He was
followed by his brothers and sister: Robert (ex-’55), Jack, Sandra, and Richard.
Their father died in Europe in 1945 while serving in the Army during World War
II. Bill spent his summers as a youth working on his grandparents’ nearby farm.
After graduating first in his class from Galesburg High School, Galesburg, IL,
in 1947, Bill began a career in the service of his country. ˆThat career,
however, started out somewhat rocky when he withdrew from the University of
Illinois and a Navy ROTC scholarship, as a result of spending too little time
with the books. Perhaps to avoid embarrassment, Bill joined the Army and found
himself assigned to a U. S. Cavalry ceremonial unit as part of the occupation
forces in West Berlin, Germany. While there, a perceptive first sergeant
recognized Bill’s potential and lured him into taking the West Point entrance
exam in exchange for a three-day pass. Having successfully passed the exam, he
was appointed to the Academy as the son of a deceased veteran.
Bill attended West Point prior to the establishment of the Air
Force Academy, at a time when both West Point and Annapolis commissioned a third
of their graduates in the Air Force. Since the Air Force slots had run out early
for some prior classes, Bill made an extra academic effort to ensure that he
would achieve his dream to fly.
Upon graduation in 1954, he entered the Air Force and was
assigned to Marana Air Station, just north of Tucson, AZ. There he met
Sharon Lee Day and one-year old Steven. After a two-month courtship, Sharon and
Bill were married and Bill adopted Steve. From Arizona, they moved to an
assignment in Texas, where Gus was born, and then on to Florida and to New
Jersey, where Cheryl was born. Follow-on assignments took him, and usually the
family, to Greenland; Washington, DC; Maryland;
Alabama; Thailand; Italy; Germany; and Colorado before returning
to Arizona.
During his military career, Bill was an active participant in
many historical events of the Cold War. In 1957, he flew in the U.S. airlift to
rescue Hungarian refugees following the Soviet invasion. Having piloted the
first aircraft to land, he was greeted on the ramp by grateful Hungarian
officials and the international press. Subsequently, Bill was stationed in
Greenland as part of the U.S. and Canadian Arctic defense forces on the direct
flight path precisely half-way between Moscow and New York City. While there, he
was gravely injured as a passenger in a plane crash into the Sonderstrom fjord.
Upon recovery, Bill flew round-the-clock missions as the U.S.
responded to the Cuban Missile Crisis and the two superpowers came to the brink
of war. Years later, the world learned that war was almost fought with nuclear
weapons and that many of those missions were ferrying nuclear warheads.
He served as pilot and escort to then Vice President Lyndon
Johnson during his tension-filled South American tour, when mobs threatened him
and the people around him. He also escorted congressional members through the
streets in Jordan and flew them to safety when they were stranded after the
British and French attacked the Suez Canal Zone.
Among the many renowned world leaders who also benefitted from
Bill’s expertise were Queen Elizabeth and Jordan’s King Hussein, both of whom he
took on tours of the United States; the Shah of Iran, who nearly got Bill
grounded by bouncing the plane hard during a landing (although the Shah was the
pilot, Bill was the aircraft commander); Costa Rica’s president, who
“requisitioned” Bill and only permitted him to return to the U. S. after some
minor political intrigue; and Willy Brandt, Chancellor of West Germany and Nobel
Prize winner, for whom Bill served for awhile as personal pilot when it was
discovered that East German agents had infiltrated his government. It was quite
an honor that Bill was entrusted with the responsibility for safely flying this
essential, but besieged, allied leader.
For his service piloting the AC-130 Specter gunship during the
war in Vietnam, Bill was awarded two Distinguished Flying Crosses and six Air
Medals for extraordinary and meritorious achievement in aerial flight during
combat.
After 22 years in the Air Force, Bill retired in 1976. He and
Sharon left Colorado to settle ultimately in Tucson, where he went back to
school at the University of Arizona, receiving his Master of Business
Administration in accounting prior to beginning work for the city of Tucson as a
business tax auditor.
In this new phase of his life, Bill refocused his sense of duty
from his country to his family, providing unconditional support to Gus and
Cheryl as they formed new families and embarked on their own careers. And as his
family grew, so did the love and energy he provided, it now also encompassing
Gus’s wife Debbie and Cheryl’s husband Bob. Bill’s nieces and nephews also
benefitted from the love and generosity of Bill and Sharon, who were grateful to
participate in their lives and support them in a similar manner.
Bill’s single biggest joy in his later life, however, was his
relationship with his grandchildren: Andrew, Allison, and Patrick. The
excitement accompanying each successive birth brought him unsurpassed joy and
happiness. He took advantage of every opportunity to provide them with support,
love, and encouragement, and was there, from no matter how far away, for every
important step in their lives. Quite obviously, he felt that being a grandfather
was the best job he ever had.
Very well done, Bill. Be thou at peace.
—Jack Porter, classmate
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