William Chmela

I am an 81 year old Catholic family man from Chicago who has been blessed with a long life and large and loving family. I was born into a family of four children (Sisters Dorothy and Patricia, Brother Robert). I had five kids of my own (Michael, William, John, Maribeth, and Steven.) I am also blessed with eight wonderful grandchildren…and counting I was married for 45 magical years to my beloved, Janice, the love of my life, who passed away from lung cancer in 2003. Throughout our long courtship, we did everything together. Our passion was (and mine still is) education. We worked together in the Chicago Public Schools for 35 years, and then we developed a groundbreaking curriculum to reduce truancy throughout the State of Illinois. During this time, we also hosted the annual conference of the IAPPW for many years…and we became Certified Meeting Planners. When we retired in 1993, Janice and I travelled the world together for 10 years…oh, the memories. Today, I spend most of my time traveling from Chicago to Florida to Long Beach, Indiana to Houston to Las Vegas to Canada trying to keep up with my kids and grandkids and stay out of the cold weather as much as possible. I still plan conferences with one of my kids, and I love going to events, conferences, and trade shows and just meeting new people, learning new things, and sampling great food. My priorities are God and Family. I spent the past eighty+ years loving both of them with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my strength and with all my mind. And while the world around us has changed quite a bit since 1934, my love for my creator and those He blessed me with has never budged. I am so grateful for all my blessings, and I still love life today as much as I did when I was a kid.