Remembering Bill

Bill was born on December 16, 1931, in Kansas City, KS, to Richard Francis Aldridge and Dorothy Louise Blankenship. After graduating from high school and marrying Alice Arlene Hazen on April 22, 1951, in Kansas City, KS, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. From 1952 to his honorable discharge in 1955, he was stationed at Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, followed by Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu and Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, DC.

The second eldest of eight children, Bill grew up in a very poor family that moved from town to town throughout his childhood so that his father, an ironworker, could find jobs. Despite his inconsistent early schooling and other hurdles, he was able to attend college with the help of Alice and the GI Bill, earning a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics at the University of Kansas. He also attained master’s degrees in educational evaluation, science education, and physics at the University of Kansas and Harvard University and completed doctorate coursework and research in physics at the University of Kansas.

Bill had a lengthy and successful career in science education. From 1957 to 1976, he taught high school science at Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, KS, and then college physics at St. Louis Community College‒Florissant Valley in Missouri, where he eventually became head of the science department. From 1976 to 1979, he was a program officer for the National Science Foundation.

From 1980 to 1995, Bill served as executive director of the National Science Teachers Association. He significantly expanded the association and spearheaded the research-based Scope, Sequence, and Coordination of Secondary School Science project, a major national effort to reform K–12 science education. He was instrumental in establishing Quantum: The Magazine of Math and Science, a bimonthly magazine for young readers. He authored numerous books in addition to monographs, articles, and published papers. Among the awards he received were NASA’s Distinguished Public Service Medal in 1995 and the American Association of Physics Teachers’ Distinguished Service Citation “for exceptional contributions to the teaching of physics.”

Bill loved classical music, especially opera. His children remember the many early Saturday mornings when he woke them by blasting opera at full volume and calling out, “Rise and shine, kids!” in a teasing, singsong voice. He often whistled while he tackled household and work projects, a habit that several of his grandchildren inherited. He enjoyed collecting Edison phonographs and showing them off to friends and family — and, occasionally, subjecting his captive audience to scratchy recordings on cylinders from the late 1800s. He also loved movies and would laugh uproariously, sometimes with tears streaming down his face, whenever he watched or quoted lines from his favorite movie, Young Frankenstein.

Bill traveled extensively throughout his life, always bringing home unique souvenirs for his children when they were young and interesting tales when they were older. Their favorite memories include family vacations to the Ozarks, Maine, and a remote area of western Canada. They also fondly recall the annual hiking and canoe trips with their dad and his Florissant Valley colleagues and their children.

After Bill and Alice retired in 1995, they sold their Arlington, VA, home and bought a house in Henderson, NV, outside Las Vegas. When they weren’t trying their luck at the casinos, they were back east, cruising the Chesapeake Bay and the Intracoastal Waterway on Rainbow, their 40-foot Ed Monk Trawler. Over the next few years, their trips included a 1,200-mile voyage on the Intracoastal Waterway from their marina in Solomons, MD, to Fort Myers, FL.

On their last boat trip in November 2001, they rented out their Nevada house and brought their cats with them on a six-month-long journey all the way to the Bahamas. Bill later recounted their adventures and other family memories in this blog, which he began in 2018.

When Alice became ill with cancer in 2005, they sold their home in Nevada and moved to the house in Purcell, MO, that Bill had bought years earlier for his mother, who by then had moved into an assisted living apartment. When Alice passed away in 2008, Bill lived there until he met his partner, Carmen Bizjack.

In his later years, Bill and his partner, Carmen Bizjack, enjoyed traveling to such places as Italy, Spain, Argentina, and Uruguay (Carmen’s birthplace), as well as visiting their children and grandchildren. When they weren’t traveling, they split their time between their homes in Jacksonville Beach, FL, and Front Royal, VA.

Bill was very active until his leukemia diagnosis in November 2021. He doted on his pets and enjoyed taking his dog, Coco, on long walks. In his typical cheerful approach to life, he loved working on projects around the house and yard or fixing anything that was broken. He was mentally sharp right up to the end. Ever the physicist, he explained Planck’s constant to his four children just days before he passed away.

More than anything, Bill loved his family. He was both their caretaker and their anchor. Their loss of him will be greatly felt for years to come.

Bill was preceded in death by Alice, his wife of 57 years, who passed away in 2008. He is survived by his partner, Carmen, of Jacksonville Beach, FL, as well as his children, Bryan Aldridge, Cara Aldridge Young, and Richard (Kelly Weaver) Aldridge of Fairfax, VA, and Susan (Jevin Croteau) Aldridge of Arvada, CO; 10 grandchildren, Bradley (Len Tominaga) Aldridge, Kelly Aldridge, Emily Young, Eric Young, Andrew Young, Wesley Aldridge, Natalie Aldridge, Emma Croteau, Mitchell Croteau, and Abigail Croteau; two great-grandchildren, Reed Aldridge and Lui Aldridge; and six siblings. Bill is also survived by his and Carmen’s beloved 17-year-old cat, Mirkat, and their dog, Coco.

Bill’s ashes will be scattered in the Chesapeake Bay and buried next to Alice in the family plot in Sheldon Cemetery in Sheldon, MO. A celebration of Bill’s life will be held in Arlington, VA, at a date to be announced.

In lieu of sending flowers, please consider donating to the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America, the Leukemia Research Foundation, or your favorite animal rescue organization.