William “Billy” A. Cripps, 59, died
He was born
He was educated in
He quit high school in 1963 at the age of 16, and went to work for a carnival headquartered in
A funeral service was held and burial was in
“For every hour and every moment thousands of men leave life on this earth and their souls appear before God. And how many of them depart in solitude, unknown, sad, dejected that no one mourns for them or even knows that they have lived or not.” --Fyodor Dostoevsky
Billy was one of my roommates when I lived as a boy at the Charles Hayden Inn. “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” -- John Bradford
I first noticed Billy when he was crawling around under the stairs in the basement of the Hayden Inn. I was sworn to secrecy when I discovered that he had built a small clubhouse under the stairs. I tapped into an electrical circuit and provided some lighting. Eventually Billy moved most of his prized possessions from his room into that secret alcove. You can read about my stay at the Hayden Inn, and other childhood adventures in my book, Abominable Firebug and you can read about the book on my web page.