Waitsburg Not The Same Without “Buffalo” Bill

Bill Thompson was a good friend. I share that distinction with scores of folks in this community and extending the population to the Palouse.

"BillyT" was his vanity plate, but his formal moniker was "Buffalo Bill," because it was largely through his efforts that the annual Lions Buffalo Feed was instituted. He was really tickled when the front page of The Times had the replica of a buffalo nickel with the motto "E Pluribus Thompson."

I share some Waitsburg history with him as we both came into town as outsiders in the early 1960s. His plans were to purchase the cable system from Al Watson and our family planned to buy The Times from Carl and Virginia Dilts.

Because humor was an integral part of both our personalities, we would often speak of what the towns we moved from had escaped the devious designs that we brought with us to this city. Waitsburg is "One of A Kind," and Bill was a unique part of that institution. He was a Cougar to the core, and rarely (if ever) missed a home football game. He had lots of contacts in Pullman and Palouse, with a story and nickname for all. Friends of his were called "Flytrap," "Barnyard" and "Strawberry." When visiting with his erstwhile pals I tried to find out what they called Bill during his youth but was never successful. He loved to interact with people and, like Will Rogers, I doubt he ever met a person he didn't like.

In Whitman County, he had been active in small town softball, and one of the famous encounters was Ewartsville vs. The Ewan Grange. He gave me a complete team roster which I wrote down for posterity and to reference, but he always thought I had memorized the list. The final score was something like 35-1 with a teammate of Bill's saying "Let's keep pouring it on-you never know when these young fellows will catch on fire." Bill alternated between center field and pitching, and as a "lefty" was probably awesome in that league.

It was fun to approach Bill with a question about that game. I would ask "what would have happened if Harold Sims trick knee hadn't given out on him in the second inning." He always had an answer.

Lions was also a favorite endeavor of "Buffalo Bill," and an ongoing competition in any event was between the food sales and beverage sales. If his side won (he always headed up the beverages), he would artfully rub it in. If his side lost, he would have some morethan elaborate excuses for the second-place finish.

His speeches in Lions club are legendary and led to what we referred to as divine intervention to bring them to a close. If he spoke a bit too long, suddenly from the crowd would come a hum of "God Bless America" which would rise to such a crescendo that he would start to laugh and could not finish. Rumor has it that John Kenney was the first to employ this ruse, but that hasn't been verified.

Bill enjoyed the Bruce House, and was the one who installed the night light in the front yard so that this historical relic would get its fair display, day or night.

Bill loved to tease and be teased in return, and he rarely did anything with less than full gusto. He delighted in reminding postmaster Caroline that Ivan Keve was the best the USPS ever had in Waitsburg.

He bought a skinny-tired green bike at a yard sale for $5 and rode it to town for the mail and coffee on a daily basis. He organized the 7th Street Ranchero Club to be in both the Days of Real Sport and Christmas Parades. He was in charge of the chili feed after the December event and closely guarded his recipe, which consisted of opening a can of Nalley's. His neighbors loved to spread corn around his parking so that the neighborhood flock of turkeys would make their deposits on his lawn.

He and Berger Chase were close companions, and in later years, Bill checked in on Bettie Chase on a daily basis to make sure everything was OK.

A point of pride with Bill, which indicates his interest in community support, is that as of this past Southeastern Washington Fair and Frontier Days, he had attended 80 evening fair events over the past 20 years, This includes the concert, demo derby and two rodeo nights each fair season--that is quite a record.

Bill served on Waitsburg City Council, ambulance board, Waitsburg Historical Society and was a Mason. He enjoyed visiting at the grocery store with the early morning hour group as well as the hardware store later in the day where he picked up on the news and kidded around with his fellow "Burgites."

He was known to be politically conservative (slight understatement). He shared the opinion of Bettie Chase that "Computers are the Devil's tools," but that didn't keep him from enlisting the help of a friend who sent an e-mail to Bill O'Reilly stating that Thompson was a "closet liberal," or to send an encouraging note to his favorite national politician, Sarah Palin.

Even thought he had some heartbreaks along the road of life, Bill always thought it was more suitable to laugh than to cry, and that was his motto.

As a friend said to me on the Sunday morning after Bill's passing, "Waitsburg won't be the same without Billy Thompson."

I had to agree.