William Harold Cambron

He is survived by his daughter, Mary Elizabeth Cambron Spain; his granddaughters: Cathryn Mary Spain Clabaugh, Christyne (Kibby) Rose Spain, and Tamira Dawn McClure; his sister, Rosemarie Drion Nichols; his brother Joseph Drion; his nieces & nephews on the Drion side and the Barreca side; and the Sedlmayrs, the family of his heart.

William was born at City Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri on April 17, 1927 to Mary Reno (age 19) and Curby Cambron (age 28) at 12:47 A.M. Their residence was 3805 Shenandoah in St. Louis County. Curby was a laborer. Mary was a housewife.

He was raised by his mother, Mary Reno Drion with his baby brother, Joseph Drion, and his sister Rosemarie Drion.

Before joining the Navy, Bill joined the Merchant Marines. He was 16 and joined with 10 of his buddies. They were sent to Sheepshead Bay, New York for training, but William didn’t like the Merchant Marines, so he quit and hitchhiked back to St. Louis to join the Navy.

William enlisted in the U.S. Navy on September 16, 1944, in Carsonville, Missouri. Bootcamp was at Great Lakes. The week before he was to graduate, he landed in the hospital. So, Willie had to graduate with a different company. It was his desire to become a pilot. Bill passed all the tests, but he was too tall to fit into the cockpit. His job assignment was to start the engines for the pilots on the tarmac. January 1945 Bill was stationed in Oxnard, CA with the 52nd Acorn Division Seabees. They were preparing for the invasion of Japan when the atomic bomb was dropped and ended the war. He served as Seaman, First Class and received a Victory Medal World War II. He was discharged on July 24, 1946.

Bill went back home and was living with his mother, Mary Reno-Cambron-Drion and his grandmother, Ida Hanson at 3901 Shirley Terrace in St. Louis, Missouri.

At age 19, around the end of July 1946, William was coming home from Sees Confectionary. He was walking across Highway 40, which used to be Natural Bridge Road when a car passed by. Babe Ruth was the passenger.

Babe waved and briefly spoke to him. Willie loved baseball and held that memory fondly his whole life.

Bill was known to be impulsive and adventuresome. Some would say a wild child. He was constantly traveling and even hitchhiked the famous Route 66 in his 20’s. He remembered riding the Trailway bus Line with standing room only. Willie recalled going to the movies for only 10 cents. He hated walking so he’d run. To make it more interesting he’d race the streetcars, much to his mother’s chagrin.

On July 16th 1949, William married Sandra Mary Barreca in Pattonville, Missouri. About a year after they were married, they moved to Seattle, Washington to find employment. They stayed with Sandra’s oldest brother, Joseph Barreca. When that didn’t work out, they moved back to St. Louis because Sandra was pregnant with their first daughter, Mary Elizabeth who was born one month early on March 19, 1951. In 1955 they moved to San Fernando Valley, California in time for the opening of Disneyland! In 1959 Sandra became pregnant again with identical twins that didn’t survive being born at 7 months. More pregnancies occurred until 1963 resulting in earlier and earlier miscarriages. In later years it was discovered that Sandra was RH+ but William was RH- .

They moved several times throughout the state of California as Bill was transferred with GTE (General Telephone/Bell Telephone/ “Ma” Bell) which eventually became Verizon. He worked as a lineman, climbing poles; a cable splicer, working in manholes, a foreman and in later years a trouble shooter. This required some late nights and working in bad storms to repair damage to customers. William also trained many of the men on his crew. He retired on May 31, 1989 to take care of his wife, Sandra who was dying from cancer. Sandra died on June 25th 1989, just 1 month shy of their 40th anniversary.

A few years after Sandra’s death, Bill met Ruth Sedlmayr. Bill’s niece, Theresa Druckenmiller, introduced him to Ruth. They were together for 18 years until Ruth’s death on January 2, 2011. The Sedlmayrs accepted him into their family. He loved Chris Sedlmayr like his own daughter and her son, Sean as a grandson.

Bill’s passions include cars, boats, the St. Louis Cardinals, card games like Skipbo, Uno and Blackjack. He had many a win playing poker at casinos.

William’s most recent memorable experience was his trip to Washington D.C on the Honor Flight, San Diego.

William was a wonderfully generous, quiet man with a cute, sometimes mischievous smile and twinkle in his eye. He was a loving son, grandson, brother, husband, father, grandfather and uncle. He was a big man with a huge heart and cared for his family deeply. His gentle ways and huge presence have left a hole in this world and in our hearts that will never be filled.