They say if you love someone, set them free. If they love you, they will return to you. If they don’t, well, they are stupid!

 

Standing next to me today is a very, very smart man. It gives me great pleasure to introduce you to our newest returning Rotarian, Bill Hammond, who rejoins us today under the classification of Health Care.

 

Now there is a reason why I started all this on a note of love. The rewards of Rotary are many, but in some cases, they can include love, but more on this later. Let me tell you about Bill.

 

Bill was born in Elgin, Illinois and grew up in Lake Forest until he was 13. Unfortunately, at this time his parents divorced, and he moved with his mom to Delaware. He ate more than his mother could afford so she sent him off to a boy’s boarding school. This was a school for gifted and highly capable young men. In this environment, Bill flourished and finished school at the top of his class. In fact, he was so impressive, he earned himself a full ride scholarship to Harvard.

 

He started in mathematics but decided to go into medicine. He later attended the Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. He was interested in internal medicine early on, but later realized that he was also drawn to the scientific.

 

His residency brought him out to Seattle at the University of Washington Hospital in internal medicine. In 1975 he assisted on the team that successfully executed the first twin leukemia bone marrow transplant. From this experience, Bill moved his focus to stem cell research and the isolation of the lining of blood vessels.

 

In 1978 Bill joined the faculty at the UW and stayed there for 20 years. He was also the President of the Minor and James Clinic until it was transitioned to Swedish and Bill retired in 2013.

 

Now Bill finally found something he was terrible at. In a matter of months, he flunked retirement and went back the UW and founded the University’s community oncology clinic at Northwest Hospital.

 

Now, let's see, what else can I tell you about Bill that would be interesting? Oh yes, he died. He was playing tennis and suffered a major heart attack and dropped dead on the court. He was, for all intent and purpose, clinically dead. Obviously, there is more to the story. You know all these little heart defibrillator machines that are popping up at hotels, restaurants, and other public places? Well, there was one at the tennis club, and a staff member who had just been trained on one saw Bill collapse. He grabbed the machine off the wall and shocked Bill's heart back to life. It was like a TV movie.

 

Now as you can imagine, if you die and then come back to life, you tend to take stock of your life and make the changes you may have held back on. One of those was the difficult decision to get divorced, and Bill moved on as a single man.

 

Remember the love part? Here it is. After leaving the UW for the second time, Bill decided to rejoin Rotary last year. He found many old friends who welcomed him back.

 

One was a friend he had known for many years. The only difference was that she was now single. We all know what happens when two available people who like each other meet up?

 

Yes, they go on a date. And if that works, they go on a second date. And if it is right, they fall in love. And last November, Bill married the love of his life, our very own fellow Rotarian, Nancy Osborne!

 

The first thing I said to Bill when he told me he had married Nancy was, dude! Are you going to take her name? I mean Hammond is okay. But to be, Mr. Nancy Osborne!

 

There are a lot of guys in this club who would have loved to be Mr. Nancy Osborne.

 

But Bill and Nancy decided to keep their own names as they began their lives together as a couple, forever!

 

Now I could go on and on about all of Bill's charity work and all the boards he has served on but the one thing I want to single out is the work he has done in Cambodia. Each year, for the past eight years, Bill has put on his doctors’ hat and flown to Cambodia to mentor young Cambodian-trained physicians as well as provide medical services to Cambodians who can’t afford this care. This year, Nancy joined him for the first time. Each year his team ministers to 1,000 to 1,200 patients. That is like 10,000 Cambodians who have been saved or enriched through the efforts of this selfless man.

 

Bill is proposed by Linda Cheever and Paul Ishi and we thank them for bringing Bill back.

 

Now, think about this. Here is a man who went to Harvard and Tufts University. He had the opportunity to become a sought-after specialist at any one of the most prestigious hospitals in the land. He could have experienced the American dream of incredible wealth, but instead, he is the American dream, as he has helped millions through his research and his advances to oncology practices worldwide.

 

Please join me in welcoming back our very own Bill Hammond, classification, Health Care.