William D. Graham ’57

William D. Graham ’57 died peacefully at home in Jupiter, Florida, on March 14. Bill was born and raised in Ridgewood, New Jersey. After two years at Dartmouth, where he was a member of Kappa Sigma and kept a jeep off campus, he saw the movie The Bridges at Toko-Ri starring William Holden and Grace Kelly and decided he would prefer the life of a naval aviator to that of a draftee. He joined the Navy and spent the next four years as a pilot, mostly as a formation flight instructor in Pensacola, Florida. Returning to Dartmouth, he majored in zoology, went to medical school at the University of Rochester in New York, and rejoined the Navy as a flight surgeon serving on the Quonset, Rhode Island-based aircraft carrier USS Essex. He once said, “Being able to fly off a carrier with the squadron of pilots as well as being the air group’s physician is about as good as it gets!” Bill reentered civilian life and spent the next 30 years as an emergency room physician at Kent County Hospital in Warwick, Rhode Island, eventually as chief and director of the department. He served his Jamestown, Rhode Island, community as a family doctor. He retired in 1996 to Florida, where he was an enthusiastic golfer and sailor. Bill was predeceased by Nancy, his beloved wife of 45 years. He leaves children Julia, John, and Nancy; two stepchildren; and seven grandchildren.