WILLIAM ROGER STONER
AUGUST 7,1943 to SEPTEMBER 29, 2024.
Son of Ivan and Virginia Stoner. Brother to Jill (Jim Virginia) Tilton, Virginia Stoner, and David
Stoner, here is something he wrote on Chief Table Paper.
JOY LAND MEMORIES
…” In Wichita when I was a kid, maybe Six or seven years old, my dad often took the family to the amusement park, a place called JOY LAND, which had a huge rollercoaster almost too scary to ride. For many years my great aunt had a pony ride there and we got all the free rides we wanted. But the best thing about the place was that behind the pony ride was a sizable collection of Steam Tractors and Threshing Machines in all the stages of repair and restoration. My little brother and I would escape as soon as possible and head back to those big machines and spend as much time as we could just fooling around climbing all over them, opening doors, turning wheels and knobs, and yanking levers. Then my parents would find us, haul us back to the midway, and try to make us behave “like other kids”.
Years later, I found out that the park was owned and operated by the Ottaway family. “Bill Ottaway” in his younger days, had been very successful as a Racine manager for Harley-Davidson. And by the time I developed an interest in motorbikes, he had become a legendary figure in U.S Motorcycle Racine History. His son Herb was well known as a Top Eight Restorer of Antique Machinery, Steam Tractors and motorcycles as well.
In 1949 or so, I didn’t know anything about the Ottaway’s but I do know that climbing around on those bug tractors beat riding those little ponies by a Mile!…
His sister Jill said Bill was the smartest and the most athletic of the four kids, playing baseball and football well. When I met him, he liked “cuties”, motorcycles, wood working, good engineering, Formula 1, and sport car racing.
A conversation with Bill was like reading Hemingway or watching Marlon Brandon act. It was exciting and filled with minutia, often recounting adventure and misadventure on his motorcycle. Bill could remember and recount details that made any conversation fun and I’d learn something. In his early thirties, he decided to make some circular Steamed Wooded Shaker Boxes with matching lids. They were all beautiful and perfect like everything else he did.
During his last years, Bill had good neighbors and friends like Oscar and Olga Nicoloff. They shared Wonderful Uruguayan dishes with him and took him shopping at the Dollar Store.
For the last month, Bill was content at Tonganoxie Terrace Nursing Home enjoying the company of pretty girls. A nice young man, along with others like my wife Claudia and children attended all his needs. He had good food, plenty of ice cream, and a comfortable bed to add to his happiness
If anyone wanted to give Bill a happy dream, he would have encouraged them to help someone without letting them know it. The Lawrence Public Library was his second home, and he supported KPR. Bill will be interred with his family in Wichita. Bill’s other good Church of Christ neighbor, let Bill pick up sticks all over the Church grounds, putting them in neat piles under the trees making it easier to mow. This made Bill happy.
Beautiful