In memory of those who have Crossed the Bar

STUART, William (Bill) - Passed away December 27 2014. Born June 6, 1943 Bill grew up in Lacombe Alberta the eldest child of Duncan Stuart, a very successful accountant in the area who died of a heart attack at age fifty. Bill's mother Mary remarried Jim Berkeley, a successful doctor with a thriving practice in Port Moody BC. Jim Berkeley adopted Mary's children including son Tom, who became my life long best friend in the mid '60's and Tom became a Berkeley whereas Bill joined the Navy in the late '50's/early'60's and remained a Stuart.

Bill was an imposing figure, 6'4" tall, handsome as shit and built like a line backer. He qualified on HMCS Grilse SS71 in the early '60''s and was dubbed "Baby Huey" by the crew. When Bill returned to Port Moody in the mid '60's after his 5 years in the Navy he was somewhat of a legend; not only a specimen of manhood but also a Submariner. I was in awe.

My best friend, Bill's younger brother Tom Berkeley, and I joined the Navy in 1966 and served on HMCS Saskatchewan together through the Far East cruise of 1968. When we returned to Esquimalt, I requested submarine service (a whole other story) and Tom got out of the Navy. I was first assigned to a skeleton crew on HMCS Grilse in December 1968 while the rest of the crew were in Norfolk Virginia christening HMCS Rainbow for service on Canada's west coast. I was assigned to Rainbow in March 1969.

I immediately connected with many of Bill's Grilse shipmates and was so impressed with the respect and fond memories shared it made me proud to have known him.

Now it gets even more interesting.

After Bill left the Navy, he returned to Port Moody and worked step dad Jim Berkeley's 28 acre hobby farm for a few years then attended a community college and studied Hospitality. He graduated in the late sixties and took over as GM of the Scottsdale Inn in Vancouver and was quite successful, so much so that he was recruited to manage the Tallyho Travelodge in Victoria in the mid seventies. I was attending UVIC at the time and we reconnected. He gave me a part time job bartending in the cocktail lounge and discussed with me his plan for the hotel: Strippers!

This was mid seventies Victoria and there were NEVER strippers. I had some abilities in sound systems and put together a package for him that met his needs and budget for the 300 seat pub. He booked the dancers out of an agency in Vancouver.

I should preface this with the fact that the owner of the Tallyho was very uncomfortable with this initiative. However, his concerns dissolved very quickly. To put the impact in perspective, the Tallyho historically ordered all their kegs of beer for the 300-seat pub once a week. Beer for seven days. On the opening day, with only word of mouth advertising, the lineup outside for the 11am opening was at least 500 customers, and stayed like that until 11pm closing. They ran out of beer by 10:30pm. One week's stock of beer gone in one day.

Bill Stuart: submarines and strippers. It doesn't get much better than that.

Please comment on your experience with Bill on Grilse. I'm looking forward to your responses. He was a special man.

Bill ashes were committed to the sea in 2015.