Oscar Willy

William in bottom right with his family and neighbors the Hedens

William Oscar Nilsson

Willy was born January 24, 1922 in Stavanger Norway.Willy attended Flushing High in New York. He dropped out of school early to help support his family. He as a young man repaired Pin Ball Machines and later worked in a ship yard, all there in New York. He went into the Military November 17, 1942 he was by occupation a Marine Electrician. He was discharged from Military under Honorable Discharge April 19, 1943 because of a Heart Murmur.

William and Catherine

Willy married Catherine Staub November 24, 1943 by the Justice of the Peace of Las Vegas. In September 1945 Willy and Catherine had a son they named him William Joseph. Willy was painting now, he painted large Water Towers he was in the Painters Union. Willy was still interested in Electronics. May 24, 1946 Willy had his name changed to William Oscar. May 17, 1946 he received his Naturalization papers under U.S.A. Southern District of California. In December 1947 William and Catherine gave birth to a girl, they named her Judith Elizabeth. William was still unsettled and he wanted desperately to get back into Electronics this was his desire. William decided to go to school for Radio and Television, he kept his job while doing this. He received his Diploma for Radio and Training School August 21, 1951. William and Catherine gave birth to another girl April 21, 1954 they named her Joyce Christine.

Family Photo

William was working now for Radio and Television Repair for Gene Proctor in Lomita, Calif. William also was a Ham Operator with his handle being W6onb. Teletyping and Morse code was used a lot with the rest of his equipment. He would work hours at a time on his equipment and talking over the Radio with people from everywhere. They would all meet up on the hill of Palos Verdes, Calif. and set up the equipment, and talk over seas to some. Williams' brother Henning recalls a time when he was in the Navy and they called for him on his radio band. But William was not on at that time. Another ham operator heard the call and telephoned William. William was talking over the phone over the ham radio to his brother who was over seas at that time. They would also help find people and assists in emergencies. William along with Gene Proctor and Gene Torquato had put up a home Broadcasting circuit. An article in the Los Angeles Times December 16, 1956 Sunday morning in the Communities Section calls the trio, The Harbor area Electronic Wizards. In this article it shows William and Gene demonstrating their ham television equipment being operated on UHF frequency on telecast band and linking three Harbor homes. The picture was scanned through the Army surplus camera, (once restricted equipment), and is run through a 440-megacycle transmitter and sent out from a 16-element antenna. Because the circuit operates in UHF Frequency on the telecast band, the standard TV receiver has the UHF converter added, in order to obtain reception.

William studying hard Broadcasting Newspaper Article

William also enjoyed camping, fishing, hunting, panning for gold. He would often go with his family along with his father and others. Later he bought a ski boat and his adventures went to much more than just camping. He and his family all learned to water ski. It seemed like every weekend became an adventure of water skiing, fishing, hiking and just seeing everything possible.

In 1959 William opened up his own T.V. Repair shop which he called Bills' T.V. Service at his home. Later he opened his shop on Pacific Coast Hwy in Lomita, Ca. At first business was slow, but once people started talking about him, his business grew. He also would do a lot of charitable work for those who were in need but could not afford to have theirs fixed or maybe even have one that they could watch. But his heart was failing and he had a heart attack in 1963. He was brought home and the healing process began, but something was wrong and he just was having a hard time recovering. He died March 31, 1964. He died from Ventrickulation Fibrilation. William is put to rest at All Souls Cemetery in Long Beach, Ca.

Memories

by his sister

Irene

I remember that he was quiet, always seemed to be thinking. Never heard Mom or Pop get mad at him or a harsh word from his mouth. He shared a room with the other 3 boys and in one large corner of the room was a area that was his, filled with radio parts. One of his first projects was 2 tin cans with a string between them, then he and a buddy a few houses away would talk to each other through the cans. Remember one time I was hanging out in his room when he was working on his crystal sets etc. and he asked me to hold these two wires for him. Of course the wires were hot and I got a good shock!!! (and he had a good laugh)!! When he started dating Catherine he was always asking me to press his slacks which I was always happy to do. I did adore him!! Also remember when Pop (Karl) was hanging out at Joes's lunch wagon the guys were always sitting or leaning on Pops car. Willy thought it would be fun to wire the car with electricity which he did. Then when the guys were hanging on it, Pop would flip a switch and a jolt would go through them. Pop had a lot of fun with it and so did Willy, but it came to a halt when Pop came home one day and had forgotten the switch was on. Clarence ran to the car to greet Pop and got shocked bad. He was too little to take it and the game was over. Willy dismantled it. Never really got to know Willy till we were grown up and lived in San Pedro and still adored him. I was living here in San Diego when he had his first heart attack and the girls and I went to see him. The girls couldn't go into his room but there was glass doors outside his room and he asked me to let them in for a minute, which I did. He seemed so happy. When I was going to leave he reached for me and kissed me. That was a first!! Spoke to him several times after that and one day was going out to the garage and heard a very familiar voice say, Irene... Just that word, Irene. Then the call came that he was gone. I never will forget that!!

Family photo from family reunion 1996

all members not present