William “Bill” Norris McAllister was born on January 9, 1940 in Aberdeen, Mississippi. He was the son of Booker T. McAllister and Mae Alice Norris. The McAllister family moved to St Louis, Missouri in 1942. Bill attended McKinley High School and graduated from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale with a B.S. in Mathematics and a minor in Political Science.
Bill was active in his faith. He attended Compton Hill Baptist Church in St Louis as a child, and after college joined Calvary Baptist Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At Calvary, he served as President of the Usher Board for 25 years, Chair of the Finance Committee and Vice President of the Trustee Board for 12 years. Bill also served on the Board of Directors of Calvary Housing Development, LTD, which provided quality housing, employment opportunities, and social services in the area surrounding the church. Later, he was a dedicated member of both Grace Episcopal Church and Union Baptist Church in White Plains, NY.
Bill was dedicated to his family. He grew up with sisters Alice Ruth, Mae Ola, Gillie Jean and brothers Richard Warren and Kenneth Lyles. He married Lillie Mae Rush, a professional nurse, on April 21, 1964. To this union, they had two beloved children – son Leslie Girard and daughter Dana Jacqueline. They happily raised their family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He spent over four decades in the field of computer programming and systems management. Bill worked with numerous high-profile corporations, including Rexnord Inc., Phillip Morris Inc., and First Savings Bank of Milwaukee. He worked at Badger Meter in Milwaukee before retiring in 2005.
After being ill, Lillie Mae passed away on Feb 12, 2006. Her death made Bill realized he was alone in a new house and new community and he decided to locate some of his former colleagues. His magnetic personality helped him reconnect with several former employees.
He was ecstatic when he contacted Sunaganata “Sandy” Gadsden, a former colleague from Philip Morris, Inc. She worked out of the New York office while he worked out of the Milwaukee office. They lost contact with each other as their careers took them down different paths. After reconnecting, they dated by phone and eventually married in New York on July 21, 2007. The two were deeply in love with each other, and spent the last ten years as if they were newlyweds.
Bill McAllister unexpectedly passed away on August 22, 2017, with his wife Sandy and daughter Jacqueline at his bedside in Westchester County, New York.
He leaves behind his wife Sandy (Ossining, NY), son Leslie (East St. Louis, IL), daughter Jacqueline (Washington, D.C.), sisters Alice McAllister (St. Louis, Mo.), Mae Boelter (Cool Valley, Mo), Gillie Vanderson (St. Louis, Mo), and one brother Richard McAllister (Maryland Heights, Mo.)
Additional family includes mother-in-law Corine Bradley (Elmsford, NY), sisters-in-law Altermiese Bradley (White Plains, NY), Brinda Bradley (Elmsford, NY), Deborah Bradley (Yonkers, NY), special sister in-law Katherine Greer (Centerville, Ill), uncle Elgin Norris (Las Vegas, NV), sister-in-law, Lena Rush (Florissant, Mo), special brothers-in-law Moses Townsend (Webster Grove, MO) and Raymond (Jackie) Rush (Dayton, OH) and brother-in-law Ernest (Regina) Rush (Swansee, Ill). He will be missed by a host of cousins, nieces, nephews, and dear friends throughout the United States.
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