TERRE HAUTE —
At age 86, Bill H. Dunn lays claim to being the oldest bus boy in Terre Haute.
“Anyone who disputes that better bring a photo ID,” said Dunn, who for three hours each weekday works to clean tables and bring smiles to customers at the Grand Traverse Pie Co. on North Third Street.
Dunn was born in Chicago in October 1923. His father worked selling Westinghouse stainless steel kitchen equipment at the time. When just a year old, Dunn said his mother would take him and his older brother, then 3, to Wrigley Field to watch the Chicago Cubs.
“Back then, women and children got in free to the game every Friday during the summer when the Cubs were playing at home,” Dunn said. “My roots for being a Cubs fan date back to age one. I’m going to hang around until the Cubs win the World Series, if I have to live to be 110,” chuckled Dunn, showing a bright, white smile.
It’s that smile and his greetings to customers that have impressed Stephen J. Huddleston, regional manager for Grand Traverse Pie Co.
“I keep telling him I want to be Bill when I grow up,” Huddleston said. “He’s got these college girls and all these women hug him when they get here and they hug him before they leave,” Huddleston said. “Christmas time and Valentine’s Day time, he just makes a haul. He is just a great guy.
“We opened [in Terre Haute] Aug. 28, 2007, and Bill has been here ever since,” Huddleston said. “Unless he is covered up [doing his job], he is always going around talking to people to see if there is anything he can do to enhance their experience. I got a lot of repeat business because of Bill,” Huddleston said. “Bill never has a bad day. He’s always got a smile.”
Dunn said that’s how he was raised.
“Always have a smile,” Dunn said. “You can either have a smile or a frown. I choose a smile.”
On Dunn’s left arm is a tattoo of an eagle with a heart and arrow. He got the tattoo in 1944 while serving in the U.S. Navy, he said, recalling his enlistment on Dec. 10, 1942. Dunn served until April 16, 1946.
“It used to say ‘Helen,’” Dunn said of the tattoo. “She was my girl until I got a letter that she had married. I wondered what I would do with the tattoo, but it grew out so you can’t read it.”
In 1948, he married his wife, Billie. “It was just about where you couldn’t read it. Billie was skeptical for a while, but after a year or two, you couldn’t read it, so she said it really didn’t matter,” Dunn said with a laugh.
His wife died in 2003, after 54 years of marriage.
After the Navy, he sold insurance. Dunn moved to Terre Haute in 1978 and he retired from the insurance business in 1980. Wanting to stay busy, he worked as a bartender at the former tavern, “The Place,” on North Third Street.
He came to work at the pie company after he had a car accident while delivering newspapers. “I was living at Peddle Park and was delivering USA Today and had a bad accident crossing U.S. 41 at Pimento,” Dunn said. “They canceled my insurance because I did not see this guy and totaled both cars. So, I was temporally grounded.”
Dunn has long since returned to driving. In fact, last Wednesday was a big day for him. He traded in his old car on a newer Chevrolet. Then, after arriving at work, Dunn learned from his daughter that he had become a great-grandfather. His granddaughter, Heather Roberts, gave birth to a daughter, Rebecca.
“It feels great. I’ve been waiting for her first child for several years,” he said, again with a broad smile.
So why does Dunn keep working when many his age have embraced retirement?
“I spend too much money,” he said, chuckling. “I never get comfortable to where I can cut the income off. I really look forward to going to work every day. I like the contact with all the people and everyone is so nice. It just makes your life young again.”
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.
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