William Greer Obituary

Greer
William T
Greer
February 7, 1929
September 7, 2022

Dr. William (Bill) Thomas Greer died peacefully at his home surrounded by his family on September 7, 2022. He was 93 years old. He died of complications from Alzehimers/dementia disease. He is survived by his wife of 69 years, Kathyrn Greer, nee Grabill; four children, William Thomas Greer, Jr. (66) Steven Treat Greer (64) Dr. Anne Boyle, nee Greer (60) and David James Greer (57), their spouses and nine grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his mother, Dr. Edith S. Greer, his brother, Dr. Jack Greer, and his grandchild, William Thomas Greer, IV.
Bill Greer was born February 17th,1929 in Omaha, Nebraska. Shortly after, his family moved to Falls City, Nebraska. His mother, Edith Samanek, was a first generation immigrant from the Republic of Czechoslovakia. Bill was the oldest of her two children. When Bill was three, his mother left his father. Bill and his younger brother, Jack, were raised by the tight knit Czeck community in Falls City where all the immigrant families pitched in to raise the children. His mother took a position at a dime store to pay the bills, while also teaching school. It wasn't uncommon for her to have up to three jobs at one time. This meant she was rarely at home and without a father the boys became the pride of Falls City. Both Bill and Jack became Eagle scouts.
Edith moved her family to Lincoln, Nebraska where she returned to school to earn a Ph.D in Education. Bill and his brother Jack attended Lincoln High School where Bill excelled on the swim and debate teams. As an educator, Edith stressed the importance of education, especially earning a college degree. Yet she also noted that she would not be able to afford to pay for one. Fortunately both Bill and Jack were good students and attended the University of Nebraska, Lincoln on ROTC scholarships. Bill earned his Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering in 1951. Jack obtained a PhD in Education, Jack flew cargo planes in WW2. Bill met Karthryn Grabill when they were undergraduates at the University of Nebraska. Kathy likes to say that she was the only girl he ever dated. Bill encouraged Kathy to major in Education and to become a teacher. They married in Lincoln, Nebraska on June 7, 1953.
Bill was accepted at the University of Nebraska Dental School, where he began his studies in the fall of 1951. To pay for his dental education, Bill started a painting company. Kathy once took money given to her by her mother for clothes to help pay for paint brushes. While her Mother was extremely angry, Kathy was never sorry she did that. She saw it as an investment in her future. When Kathy started teaching, her income also paid for Bill's education. Bill graduated from Dental School in 1955.
Edith never remarried and obtained her PhD in Education while Bill was attending Dental school. After serving his military commitment they moved to Colorado Springs in 1958. One of Bill's colleagues, in Dental school, Don Downs originally from Colorado Springs recruited Dad to go into practice with him. University of Colorado did not have a Dental school, at that time, that is how Don ended up at UNL. Don wanted Bill to go into practice with him in the Broadmoor area but Bill broke from him, deciding to start his own practice with fellow UN alum Dr. Lloyd Smith. They practiced on the 600 block of Nevada Street not far from downtown.
Bill's children were active in all kinds of sports but swimming dominated their time. Bill Snr. swam all fours years at UNL and had always enjoyed the sport. The kids took their first organized lesson at the YMCA. Shirley Carsell was the backbone of the YMCA's swimming program and their success was drawing more swimmers all the time. Shirley decided to start Colorado Springs first swim team and Bill helped kick it off the ground. Bill became a coach. Eventually the team's success and more importantly it's growth drove the formation of a new team; Colorado Springs Swim Team (CSST). By this time Bill's practice was thriving and his clientele represented the leadership of Colorado Springs. It was through those contacts that he pushed for the funding and construction of Colorado Springs first municipal swimming pool. This became the center of CSST's program. This broadened Bill's network of swimming relationships, he became certified to referee college swim meets. In 1968 the Olympics were held in Mexico City. Colorado Springs was selected for its altitude to be the home training base for all sports in preparation of the Mexico City Olympics. With Bill's referee credentials he was selected to referee the swim qualification meets. He was given two gold passes that provided access to all of the sports venues. Bill gave these passes to his oldest two sons where they took in the qualifying events of many of the big sports including Water Polo, Basketball, Track and Field and Wrestling to name just a few. We remember one basketball player dubbed "the round mound of basketball" he played for the University of Auburn, his name was Charles Barkley. One of the family's fondest memories is watching Bill referee the swim Olympic Qualifier event at the Air Force Academy. The excitement of seeing the country's best coaches and swimmers congregated at the Air Force was really special.
CSST was the feeding ground for the city's high school swim programs. Bill knew all the high school coaches on a first name basis. He used his connections, in the school administration, to help many of them advance in their careers.
Bill's passion for education was in his family DNA and led to his election to the Board of Education of District 11. His brother was a Professor of Education (teaching teachers) at Georgia State. Education was the Greer "family business". Bill was committed to providing a quality education to all kids. Teachers and administrators knew who Bill Greer was and that he voted on their salaries, so his children enjoyed a bit of special privilege. Bill's close friend Steve Schuck ran for Governor and tapped Bill as a primary contributor developing his education platform.
To honor his mother's distinguished career in Education, which included being elected as the first female school superintendent of the State of Nebraska, and establishing the U.S. Department of Education under President Carter, Bill endowed the Dr. Edith S. Greer Distinguished Chair in the College of Education at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln in the fall of 1991.
Bill was President of the Colorado Springs Dental Society from 1969 to 1970. Bill loved being a member of this society.
The family moved from their first home on Condor street to Austin Bluffs on Chelton Rd. when the older boys were in Junior High. At that time the Bluffs were the border of city limits. Bill Jr. was hiking in the bluffs one Saturday when he spotted what he thought was the family station wagon on top of the Easternmost bluff (the reception was best there), he hiked over and found his Dad with 5 magazines, 10 newspapers reading away listening to Nebraska football on AM radio. Bill LOVED Nebraska football. Upon the entrance to his Dental office bore the bumper sticker, "Big Red Ain't Dead". Bill and Kathy joined Coloradans for Nebraska at Old Chicago for the games every Saturday.
Bill's daughter Ann also became a dentist attending UNL. She entered into Bill's practice after graduating. Bill practiced dentistry for sixty years. He was 83 when he officially turned over his practice to Ann. He would have continued practicing but for being diagnosed with macular degeneration. Bill said that he was not going to be a "cruise boat retiree". That post career life held no allure to him. It was his love of his practice and particularly his patients that made him happy. Once he stopped practicing he still drove down to the office daily where Ann and the staff scheduled his closest patients in the mornings. He would sit in the operatory and visit with them while Ann would work on them. I think the day that he stopped practicing was the day a smart part of his heart began to fade away.
A celebration of life memorial will be held January 2nd 2023 at Village Seven Presbyterian Church. Details of this event are fluid and should have any questions please contact Steve Greer @ [email protected] mobile 303-888-4201.