ADFAC (Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties Inc.) is ready to celebrate with the community another year of “Neighbors Helping Neighbors.”
This year’s annual meeting is free to the public, and it’s sure to be a treat (no tricks!) for all who attend, a press release said. The meeting will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday and will be held at the New Hope Center at the front entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex. [Read more…]
William Jenkins Wilcox Jr.
In act two of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” Malvolio is reading a piece of prose which begins, “Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great; some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.†Among the 75,000 people who were working in Oak Ridge when its role in bringing an end to the war was revealed, there was a man who, in that moment, felt the prescient weight of greatness thrust upon him.
Bill Wilcox wrote a letter to his parents in Pennsylvania on the day the Hiroshima bomb was dropped. Excerpts are captured in Denise Kiernan’s “The Girls of Atomic City.” Assessing his life and his place in that moment of history Bill writes, “Never before has the knowledge of so vital a nature been entrusted to so many with so great a success…Never before in the history of the world has so much responsibility been placed on the shoulders of such young people.†The writing of this letter was the beginning of what would become a life vocation of helping us understand more clearly the reality of what happened in Oak Ridge. As a result, his influence will continue to trickle down in a thousand ways. [Read more…]
Craig M. Kallio
Editor’s note: After the Saturday funeral for Bill Wilcox, I asked the Rev. Craig M. Kallio of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church a few questions about Wilcox’s cremation and burial in St. Stephen’s Memorial Garden.Â
Here is his response to my question about cremation, and Wilcox’s burial in a handmade linen bag tied with a hand-knotted cord.Â
Kallio: Bill was cremated and interred in our Memorial Garden. This burial option has become more popular among Episcopalians within the last 20 years, though the custom is quite ancient.
One reason for opting to use cremation is that of being good stewards. It takes into consideration the simplicity and cost. Rather than going with an elaborate funeral, our resources are better used elsewhere. [Read more…]
Now mostly demolished, the former mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building is pictured above. Bill Wilcox, a former technical director at K-25 and the Y-12 National Security Complex, led the fight to preserve K-25’s history. Wilcox died Monday, Sept. 2, and his funeral was Saturday. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy)
The fight to preserve the history of the K-25 site in west Oak Ridge was long and arduous. Among the challenges were federal funding battles and deteriorated building conditions.
Other people might have considered the dilapidated K-25 Building, once the world’s largest building under one roof, a “useless hulk,†one friend and colleague said. But historic preservationist Bill Wilcox, who died Monday evening, never gave up on his dream of honoring the site’s history.
Now mostly demolished, the mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building was erected as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. That was a federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II. But the four-story building has been shut down since 1964 and fallen into disrepair, and the U.S. Department of Energy is converting the site into a massive industrial park and demolishing many of the original buildings. [Read more…]
These half-dozen photos are from a collection by D. Ray Smith showing city historian Bill Wilcox, who died Monday, celebrating recent milestones, including his 90th birthday earlier this year and the unveiling of the Birth of a City monuments in front of the Oak Ridge Municipal Building a few years ago.
Smith is Y-12 National Security Complex historian and newspaper columnist, and Wilcox, a passionate advocate for preserving Oak Ridge’s history, was his friend.
The funeral for Wilcox and a community reception are Saturday. [Read more…]
Bill Wilcox
A funeral and community reception have been scheduled for Saturday for Bill Wilcox, a chemist who came to Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project in World War II and went on to become technical director for federal facilities K-25 and Y-12, was named Oak Ridge city historian, and led the fight to preserve the history of the former K-25 site, which was built during World War II to enrich uranium for atomic bombs.
The funeral is at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church at 212 N. Tulane Ave. in Oak Ridge. The community reception is at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the lobby at Pollard Auditorium at Oak Ridge Associated Universities at 120 Badger Ave. [Read more…]
Wearing his trademark bow tie, Bill Wilcox, left, is pictured at the New Hope Center earlier this year with Clifton Truman Daniel, oldest grandson of former U.S. President Harry S. Truman. (Photos by D. Ray Smith)
Bill Wilcox, a passionate advocate for preserving Oak Ridge’s history who was known for his bow ties and captivating storytelling, died Monday evening. He was 90.
Wilcox died at NHC, longtime friend Gordon Fee said. He had been moved there from Methodist Medical Center, where he had been hospitalized for almost three weeks with heart issues and shortness of breath, Fee said.
“We’ve lost a person who had more knowledge of our history than anyone else I’ve ever known,” said friend D. Ray Smith, Y-12 National Security Complex historian and newspaper columnist.
Wilcox was a chemist who started working at Y-12 during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal project to build the world’s first atomic bombs.
Oak Ridge City Historian Bill Wilcox, left, with Clifton Truman Daniel, grandson of President Harry S. Truman, who made the decision to use atomic bombs on Japan at the end of World War II. Wilcox helped Daniel with background information for his new book on the decision to use the bombs. (Submitted photo)
Oak Ridge City Historian Bill Wilcox will discuss the last eight days of World War II during a presentation next week.
It starts at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 11, at the Wildcat Den at the Midtown Community Center.
“Most Oak Ridgers know the story of Oak Ridge’s founding in 1942 as part of the Manhattan Project and about how the uranium 235 for the world’s first atomic bomb used in warfare, ‘Little Boy,’ helped end World War II,” said a press release from the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association. “Helped is correct. The two atomic bombs really did help, but even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was no agreement in Japan’s ruling circle on surrender.” [Read more…]
Jack Bailey
For the second time since Rotary International was born in 1905 in Chicago, a sitting RI president will visit Oak Ridge. He will serve as keynote speaker and hear innovative ideas at the Oak Ridge Peace Forum on Saturday, March 9, at Oak Ridge Associated Universities’ Pollard Auditorium.
The only other time a sitting RI president spoke in Oak Ridge was in 2000 when Frank Devlyn of Mexico came here. Why will RI President Sakuji Tanaka of Japan be in Oak Ridge Mar. 8-10?
A 90th birthday celebration that had been planned for Oak Ridge City Historian Bill Wilcox on Friday afternoon has been postponed due to the potential for bad weather.
“We will reschedule soon, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may create,” according to a statement from the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We want all of our party guests and our guest of honor to stay safe.”
