Joan, Bill Meeker enjoying retirement in Kasson

William Meeker lived in Richfield until he was 11. His father was a judge and after a few years, he was asked by the city of Richfield to join the Fire Department. His mother contracted polio and was confined to an iron lung machine for seven years until she passed. 

When Bill was 12 he moved to Mantorville to live with his aunt and uncle and attended Mantorville High School. He played in the band, and there were only 14 in his class but Mantorville did field a team for nine-man football. He missed only one day of school and that was the day of his mother's funeral in 1952.

Bill helped park cars when presidential candidates Adlai Stevenson and Dwight Eisenhower spoke to the huge crowd gathered at Plowville between Kasson and Dodge Center in 1952. After graduation, he worked at the Holland Cafe in Rochester for a year until he enlisted in the Air Force.

After basic training, Bill was assigned to a base in Cheyenne, Wy., but then spent 13 months at a base in Saudi Arabia. The temperatures were very hot and they lived in tents on the base. Bill did get the experience of riding on a camel while he was there. 

He was part of a four man team flying on a K-97 transport aircraft that was responsible to refuel jets in the air. His job was to handle the metal boom arm to connect to the jet, and the refueling operation would take four minutes.

Bill came back to the states to an air base in Topeka, Kan., to finish up his time in the Air Force. He then went to airline school in Kansas City and he got a job with Ozark Airlines in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was then transferred to Minneapolis.

Bill would help a neighbor near Joan’s family farm, so he would come up and visit the family and play cards. He asked Joan if she would like to go to a movie and the rest is history.

Joan grew up on a Century Farm north of Mantorville with a brother and her parents. She went to the Milton country school through sixth grade. She then went to the Mantorville School for one year and the Kasson Mantorville School when they joined and she graduated from K-M. She sang in the choir, was active in 4-H, and performed a few times on the Cancer Telethon doing tap dancing and baton twirling.

After Bill and Joan were married they moved to Minneapolis where Bill worked at the MSP airport. An opening came up at Ozark Airlines at the Rochester Airport and they moved to Mantorville with their three children. While living in Mantorville, someone suggested to Joan to sign Bill up as a candidate for the upcoming K-M School Board election. She did this as a birthday present for Bill and he was elected and served two terms.

In 1979, Bill got a chance to transfer to Orlando, Fla. and he took the job. Their oldest son, Larry had already graduated from K-M and their daughter, Penny, still had a few more years in high school. She stayed with Joan’s parents and graduated from KM. Their youngest son, Bob, moved with them and graduated from Kissimmee High School in Fla. and he moved back to Minnesota after finishing high school.