My Friend Bill

We lost my friend Bill last week. The immediate reason for his death was a fall at home, but the real cause was the cancer that had weakened him.

In the old days I suppose that I wouldn't have called him a true "friend"; I hadn't even met his wife in person or been to his house or he to mine.

Over the years we had a number of meetings and business lunches with other people, trying to get something going. Since the start of the COVID lockdown we had talked on Skype two or three times a month, trying to see if there was any business we could do together. The cupboard was bare, since his expertise lay in a business that was highly dependent on the coronavirus-devastated travel and leisure industry.

Once we had exhausted the usual discussion of potential prospects our conversation turned to each other's health, travel plans to Hawaii (me Honolulu, him Maui), and our love of old cars. He always ended with his cheery "I'll make some more calls and get back to you."

I have other endeavors, business and otherwise, that require more time and attention, and I told myself that our scheduled conversations were for his benefit, to keep his spirits up. Only now I realize that they were for me as well.

Goodbye, my friend. RIP.



William Loren McElfresh Jr, a longtime resident of San Francisco, California passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on September 25th, 2021 after a valiant battle with cancer. He was born in Topeka, Kansas on June 9th, 1946, to William Loren McElfresh and Marianna Robinson McElfresh. The McElfresh family settled in the early 1800's in Osage City, Kansas where he grew up. Bill transferred from Osage City High School to Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana where he graduated in 1964. Bill graduated from the University of Kansas in 1968 where he was a proud member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. He received a graduate degree in business from Pepperdine University.

Throughout his professional and private life Bill followed his lifelong passion for Planes, Trains & Automobiles. After serving as an officer in the US Air Force, Bill joined TRW Inc. (now Northrop Grumman.) Following that, Bill worked with International Aircraft Support Inc. near San Francisco. Several years later he joined Willis Lease Finance Corp specializing in leasing commercial aircraft engines worldwide. He traveled extensively internationally and built lifelong relationships with friends from England, Paris, Singapore and elsewhere. In recent years he formed his own company as sole proprietor, Pacific Power Group, Inc. Bill's love of planes, trains and cars inspired him to acquire extensive collections of models of each. He was an active member of the Pacific Region Ferrari Club where he served on the Board for 5 years and as President of the Club in 2008.

Bill is survived by his wife of 35 years, Bonnie Robinson McElfresh; sister Leslie McElfresh Schweitzer and nephew, William H Schweitzer, both of Alexandria, Virginia; and nephew, Arthur H Schweitzer III of Austin Texas; and a host of friends and colleagues from all over the world with whom he kept in close contact over the years. The family will host a private "celebration of his life". For more information please contact the family. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider donations to the Northern California Leukemia And Lymphoma Society.

Published by San Francisco Chronicle from Oct. 22 to Oct. 26, 2021.