William Stiles was a man of boundless curiosity. “He thought everything was interesting,” said his son, Robert. “There wasn’t anything he didn’t think was worthy of attention.
“He showed us what it meant to be passionate about a lot of different interests, and he built in us the desire, whatever we did, to give it our all and really do our best.”
Mr. Stiles died Nov. 18 at age 87 of complications from pneumonia. He was a retired cartographer and a longtime electronics buff who ran his own repair company.
He grew up an only child in Keytesville, a small town in central Missouri.
“He had a heart condition, so he couldn’t run and play too hard,” said his wife of 58 years, Margaret Stiles. “But he had a happy childhood. He was a good student at school and an avid reader – he’d read 24 hours a day if you’d let him.”
The two met at church shortly after Margaret came to town to teach at the local school. He had already established a small electronics repair business in town, and had earned a bachelor’s degree from Northeast Missouri Teacher’s College (now Truman State University).
“He taught the sciences for two years, but he didn’t really like it,” his wife said. “He said the kids in chemistry and physics were really smart and they were great, but the ones in biology and general science were aggravating.”
The couple married in 1959 and went on to have four sons and a daughter.
In about 1968, the U.S. government approached him with an offer.
“They sent him to the University of Illinois for his master’s (degree),” said Robert, 46. “He would fly there every week and take his classes, then be home on the weekends. He went to work for the Defense Mapping Agency in St. Louis, doing military maps for the war. Later, he was part of the team that did mapping of the moon.”
Mr. Stiles was prohibited from divulging much about his job at that time.
“But after he retired, he’d talk about it a little, saying, ‘Oh, this must be declassified by now,’” Robert said with a laugh.
He retired from DMA in 1992, having run the gamut from when huge, bulky computers were something of a novelty all the way to when they were briefcase-sized, essential tools.
“At the end of the Cold War, they thought we weren’t going to need a big military anymore,” Robert said. “So, the government offered early retirement, and he took it.”
Mr. Stiles kept busy with his many varied interests, and with nurturing and guiding his children’s curiosity. Although his physical limitations prevented him from being a play-ball-in-the-yard sort of father, his children didn’t miss that kind of thing.
“Every weekend, they’d put us in the car and we’d go all over, to state parks or natural areas,” Robert said. “When he was helping you with homework, you’d say, ‘Dad, just tell me the answer,’ but he wanted you to understand the process as well. He thought everyone would find the process as interesting as he did.”
Mr. Stiles always had a number of projects going.
“Oh, I know the smell of solder,” Robert said with a laugh. “He could build anything. But sometimes you’d get annoyed with his cobbled-together projects. He could fix anything on a car; he’d pull out a schematic and figure it out.
“The only thing was, he had too many projects, and the thing you wanted done might not be what he was interested in working on right now.”
Mr. Stiles began corresponding with several electronics magazines, and ended up publishing a number of articles.
“Up until the last couple of years, he was always working on new articles, thinking of new things,” Robert said.
Mr. Stiles also worked on organs in local churches, having taught himself to play by ear as well as understanding the electronics aspect.
“My brother, Darrell, has Jeffco Music in Otto, and Dad would fix amps and speakers and that kind of stuff,” Robert said.
His son said Mr. Stiles was a vivid example of living a life of the mind.
“He was always in his head, talking and thinking about things,” Robert said. “Every day, until this week, he read every word of the paper.”
He loved the St. Louis Cardinals, and had many friends at Highland Baptist Church, where he played the organ.
“But he spent all his time on his family,” Robert said. “That’s what mattered to him.”
Mr. Stiles was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and his health had been declining for the past three years. Pneumonia landed him in the hospital earlier this month.
“We thought he’d be in a few days and we’d bring him home, as usual,” Robert said. “But I was sitting with him and the nurses were messing with his O2 sensor and he just stopped breathing. It was pretty peaceful.”
Robert said his father will be remembered for his quiet courage, his commitment to family and his ceaseless thirst for knowledge.
“He was always engaged. He never sat back,” Robert said. “His mind was always on, and he was always paying attention.
“The thing he showed us was that life was interesting.”