Friday, March 26, 2021

Bill Long’s Will – March 1971

Earlier this month, I devoted several posts to the story of Lorain’s pioneer aviator Bill Long and his airports. The series culminated with the account of his passing in early February 1971, and the auction of personal effects that followed.

About a month after Long's death, the news of his will – and the unexpected financial windfall for a close friend – hit the front page of the Journal. Read all about it in this story that appeared on March 3, 1971. It’s a great story. (It kind of reminds me of when the bearded Howard Hughes passed away a few years later, and for a while it seemed that he had left $156 million to a gas station owner.)

The following day, this article appeared in the Journal.

2 comments:

  1. Dan,

    Thanks for researching Mr. Longs history in Lorain. I vaguely remember reading these articles back when they came out. I new Mr.Zakowski around the mid seventy's from regular trips to his gas station.I remember him as a very nice man and I could be wrong but I believe his future son in law worked there also.Great times in Lorain back then.

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  2. It sounds like the author of the second article had her doubts about the provenance of the will.

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