Caskbill's Memorial Service - Tuesday 6/16/09

[WebmasterDoc]

Bill's Memorial Service will be held on Tuesday, June 16. Visitation for family and friends will be from 5-7pm at the Weigel Funeral Home - 151 West George - Batesville, IN 47006.He will be buried in The Rock Island Arsenal National Cemetery in Rock Island, IL near where he and Peg grew up and were married.

The family asks that Memorial contributions be made to the The American Heart Association, The American Diabetes Association and the National Park Service.

Here is a link to Bill's obituary.

Bill Neth - Caskbill

September 28, 1944 - June 11, 2009

 

[dianeschlicht]

Thanks for posting this. I was hoping we would get a chance to express our condolences in a proper place, and the funeral chapel does give us that. It's still just so hard to believe he is gone so soon.

 

[Dean]

Thanks Rob, he will be missed. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family.

 

[jimmytammy]

Thanks Doc for sharing this

 

[KLEONARD]

Condolences to Bill’s loved ones and may he rest in peace.

Kevin

 

[JimMIA]

Thanks Doc.

Donations:
I'll double-check this, but except for donation boxes at individual Visitor Centers, I am not sure NPS is really set up to receive donations directly.

However, there are two other options. One is the National Parks Foundation, a non-profit which supports the entire park system.

The other alternative is that most parks or clusters of parks have their own non-profits which support one or more parks. For example, here in Miami, we have the South Florida National Parks Trust which supports Everglades, Biscayne, and Dry Tortugas National Parks, and Big Cypress National Preserve. Especially if Bill had a favorite National Park, that might be a more cost-effective way to donate.

You can find a link to those non-profits on individual park websites - just go to www.nps.gov and use the search feature to locate a park. You can search either by park name or state, so it's easy to locate a specific park.

I'll send an email today to the person who coordinates those things for Everglades to check on direct donations to NPS. She'll know, but she won't be back at work until Monday. If there is one central point to make donations directly to NPS, I'll get the info and post it.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I do an annual donation to the Yellowstone Park Foundation (ypf.org) through the United Way/Combined Federal Campaign. Maybe there are other Foundations for other National Parks as well.

 

[fkj2]

This is unbelieveable.

Thanks for leting us know, Doc, but it was hardly the news I was expecting. My condolences to Bill's family. Guess, in a way, that includes all of us.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Sung to the melody of Abraham, Martin and John (for those of us in Bill's era)

Has anybody here seen our old friend Bill?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He helped a lot of people, but it seems the good they die young...
And I just looked around, and he's gone.

Has anbody here seen our old friend Bill?
He helped us plan vacations...
But they say the good they die young...
And I just looked around, and he's gone.

There was no one more helpful and friendly,
He always had a ready smile...
He donated hours of computer knowledge
And even GPSed our walking tours.

Has anybody here seen my old friend Bill?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He helped a lot of people
But it seems the good they die young...
And I just looked around and he's gone.

 

[Caskbill]

Thanks to you all for your support in our time of need. My Dad's favorite park was Zion National Park in Utah with Bryce Canyon National Park being a close second. He and my Mom Peg both enjoyed all the trails in this little piece of heaven on earth. As a family we spent a lot of time in Great Smokey Mountains National Park while my sister Kathy and I were growing up. Both of us were given a life long love of the wilderness by our times spent here. I am an avid backpacker because of my Dad, who always wished he could have come with me my long hikes. So if you are able to make a donation to any of these three parks, I know my Dad would have been very grateful. Again, thanks for all the support, it has really helped the family as we mourn the greatest man I have ever known. Mike Neth, CaskBill's Son

 

[SamSam]

Sung to the melody of Abraham, Martin and John (for those of us in Bill's era)

Has anybody here seen our old friend Bill?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He helped a lot of people, but it seems the good they die young...
And I just looked around, and he's gone.

Has anbody here seen our old friend Bill?
He helped us plan vacations...
But they say the good they die young...
And I just looked around, and he's gone.

There was no one more helpful and friendly,
He always had a ready smile...
He donated hours of computer knowledge
And even GPSed our walking tours.

Has anybody here seen my old friend Bill?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He helped a lot of people
But it seems the good they die young...
And I just looked around and he's gone.

Wonderful tribute, made me well up.

 

[Muushka]

Thanks to you all for your support in our time of need. My Dad's favorite park was Zion National Park in Utah with Bryce Canyon National Park being a close second. He and my Mom Peg both enjoyed all the trails in this little piece of heaven on earth. As a family we spent a lot of time in Great Smokey Mountains National Park while my sister Kathy and I were growing up. Both of us were given a life long love of the wilderness by our times spent here. I am an avid backpacker because of my Dad, who always wished he could have come with me my long hikes. So if you are able to make a donation to any of these three parks, I know my Dad would have been very grateful. Again, thanks for all the support, it has really helped the family as we mourn the greatest man I have ever known. Mike Neth, CaskBill's Son

Thank you, Mike, for sharing this with all of us. I am saddened by the passing of your Dad. He was a wonderful moderator, so I am certain he was a wonderful man and he will be missed.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Thanks to you all for your support in our time of need. My Dad's favorite park was Zion National Park in Utah with Bryce Canyon National Park being a close second. He and my Mom Peg both enjoyed all the trails in this little piece of heaven on earth. As a family we spent a lot of time in Great Smokey Mountains National Park while my sister Kathy and I were growing up. Both of us were given a life long love of the wilderness by our times spent here. I am an avid backpacker because of my Dad, who always wished he could have come with me my long hikes. So if you are able to make a donation to any of these three parks, I know my Dad would have been very grateful. Again, thanks for all the support, it has really helped the family as we mourn the greatest man I have ever known. Mike Neth, CaskBill's Son

Thanks for the update, Mike. We all will miss your dad very much. John said a memorial bench in honor of Bill might be thought of. If you decide to go that route, please let us know here, because it would be a fun goal to try and reach here on the DIS. I know a lot of us would be willing to donate to something in Bill's name. Zion and Bryce are my favorite hiking parks too. Bryce is a bit tougher than Zion though. Please know that we are all mourning with you and your family.

 

[mvc1997]

Could we maybe donate to a plaque at Epcot for all to see?

 

[JimMIA]

Thanks to you all for your support in our time of need. My Dad's favorite park was Zion National Park in Utah with Bryce Canyon National Park being a close second. He and my Mom Peg both enjoyed all the trails in this little piece of heaven on earth. As a family we spent a lot of time in Great Smokey Mountains National Park while my sister Kathy and I were growing up. Both of us were given a life long love of the wilderness by our times spent here. I am an avid backpacker because of my Dad, who always wished he could have come with me my long hikes. So if you are able to make a donation to any of these three parks, I know my Dad would have been very grateful. Again, thanks for all the support, it has really helped the family as we mourn the greatest man I have ever known. Mike Neth, CaskBill's Son

Zion National Park
The non-profit partner for Zion National Park is the Zion National Park Foundation, which is the fundraising arm of the Zion Natural History Association. The foundation was just formed in 2007, so I'm sure donations there would be greatly appreciated.

Their web URL is www.zionpark.org/foundation. This is the official fundraiser specifically designated by the Superintendent of Zion National Park and it is a non-profit.

I can tell you from personal experience that the benefit of donating directly to a specific park is that the expenditures are decided at the local level with direct input from the local park managers. Therefore, expenditures tend to be more focused on the precise needs of that park, rather than some national or regional initiative.

Bryce Canyon National Park
I'll research further through our sources here at Everglades on Monday, but I was not able to find a separate non-profit for Bryce Canyon. When I do a search, all I get is the National Parks Foundation. NPF accepts donations for many of the parks which don't have their own non-profits.

For anyone who wants to learn more about either of these beautiful places, the individual park websites are as follows:

Zion: www.nps.gov/zion
Bryce: www.nps.gov/brca

 

[JimC]

Sung to the melody of Abraham, Martin and John (for those of us in Bill's era)

Has anybody here seen our old friend Bill?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He helped a lot of people, but it seems the good they die young...
And I just looked around, and he's gone.

Has anbody here seen our old friend Bill?
He helped us plan vacations...
But they say the good they die young...
And I just looked around, and he's gone.

There was no one more helpful and friendly,
He always had a ready smile...
He donated hours of computer knowledge
And even GPSed our walking tours.

Has anybody here seen my old friend Bill?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He helped a lot of people
But it seems the good they die young...
And I just looked around and he's gone.

What a special tribute. Very well done.

 

[Gizmo1951]

Your Dad will be missed but never forgotten
My thoughts & prayers are with you.

 

[twinklebug]

As a family we spent a lot of time in Great Smokey Mountains National Park while my sister Kathy and I were growing up. Both of us were given a life long love of the wilderness by our times spent here. ... Mike Neth, CaskBill's Son

I know the feeling Mike, my parents took us to many national parks too. I really appreciate the love for nature they instilled in me by doing so. Your Dad is a great man & father.

By the way - the following from his obituary made me laugh:

"He even built a robot for his children to play with, which affectionately was referred to as the third child."

Why did this not surprise me? That sounds so much like the man we knew here. Thank you for using his name to post. It's a wonderful reminder of what it was like to have him here daily Your Dad's memory is alive in everyone he touched.

 

[WolfpackFan]

Thanks for sharing the information.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

Thank you for posting the info here for us. Mike, your father will be missed by so many. He touched a lot of people here. Diane, that was such a wonderful tribute to Bill.