William Fredrick Hecker

West Point, 1991

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Christopher Smith on January 24, 2006:

Bill and I were company-mates at West Point, so as a fellow B-3 Bandit I had the honor and privilege of spending four formative years of my life in Bill?s company. I?ll always remember Bill with his quick wit and his guitar. As a plebe Bill managed to attract more than his share of attention from the upperclassmen, but he repaid all that grief by being one of B-3s more fearsome cows two years later (to the uninitiated: a ?cow? is a junior, and by tradition the cows tend to shoulder the responsibility for ensuring that the plebe experience is sufficiently rigorous.) Bill was a guy who was genuinely liked by all, but it?s amusing to think that the B-3 class of 1993 might be the one dissenting voice. Bill always kept things in perspective, but he pursued his passions with an intensity that few could match. My last memory of Bill comes from our ten year reunion when Bill hosted the Bandits at his home. Bill was an instructor in the English department at the time, and I remember being impressed at the idyllic lifestyle he?d created for himself at West Point surrounded by his wife and three adoring daughters (Bill IV had yet to arrive) ? dedicated to his research and his writing and to teaching cadets. Bill was a guy who was doing exactly what he was meant to do. I?m sad that I didn?t get to know more about the man that Bill had become since we graduated back in 1991, but it was an honor to have spent four tough years with Bill when we were cadets. The ?91 Bandits came from far and wide to say farewell to Bill at his funeral, and this was a valuable reminder of our communal bond. Bill lived a lot of life in his short 37 years on this planet. I?m lucky to have known this man. You?ll be missed, brother. Be thou at peace.

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