Greetings Faithful Followers,
It is with a very heavy
heart and not a small amount of tears in my eyes that I bring you this
installment of the Angry Brothers Omaha Shock O Rama Blog. On Thursday
July 21 2016 William Cardille aka "Chilly Billy" passed away from liver
cancer which he was diagnosed with shortly after his retirement in 2015.
His daughter Lorie Cardille who you all would know from her starring
role in the 1985 George A Romero film Day of the Dead. She Posted on
social media of Chilly Billy's cancer diagnoses and rallied his fans,
friends, family and the legion of horror hosts both active and inactive
to spread word of his situation and to encourage their fans and friends
to send cards letters photos whatever to show their support of Chilly at
this obviously trying time . Bill Was swamped with bags of mail from
supporters and well wishers. Chilly was supposed to attend a con in the
local area on a past weekend but his condition prevented that from
happening. Bill was hospitalized but able to ride out the illness. Then
on Tuesday the 19th it was announced that bill would be coming home to
be among his family. on this past Thursday Lori posted the news on
social media that Chilly Billy had passed away. Having lost people that
we are close to or admire you have that period of mental numbness comes
you might feel your moving thru a fog, although I had never met Chilly
Billy in person I was aware of him and his career thru my interactions
with other horror hosts and research when becoming Brother Jack. To Say
that Bill Cardille was beloved by his legions of fans in the Pittsburgh
Pa would be a monumental understatement.
|
Chilly Billy, Lori Cardille and George A Romero courtesy or triblive.com |
Rather
Than list all of Chilly Billys accomplishments and they were legion I
am reminded of a line from the Tom Cruise film The Last Samurai where
Katsumoto (ken watanabe) says to Nathan Algren "You could spend your
whole life looking for the perfect cherry blossom and it would be a
wasted life". I look at everything Chilly Billy did over the course of
his life as cherry blossoms being a father, husband, horror host,
broadcaster etc and to be beloved by his fans then truly all of the
cherry blossoms of his life were perfect and his life was by no strech
of the imagination wasted. On a more whimsical note it brings a smile to
my face to think that Chilly Billy Right now is sitting at a table at
the big horror convention in the sky signing autographs for people like
Vincent Price, Leonard Nimoy, Peter Cushing, Christoper Lee and Vampira.
Rather Than our Traditonal ending. I will Just end this update with
Godspeed Chilly Billy you will be missed .