Bill Klein
May 4, 1950 – September 5, 2020
From Bob Siegel
I wanted to share the sad news that Bill Klein, a long time member of Chi-Town Squares, passed away Sept. 5, 2020 a few days after sustaining injuries from a fall in his home.
Bill was passionate about square dancing for a long time, and was integral in the formation of one of the first LGBTQ clubs in San Francisco. Despite his many ailments including a nearly complete loss of vision, he kept dancing as long as his health allowed.
Bill was known as one of the top C4 dancers in the late 70's and early 80's here in the Chicago area, before he moved to San Francisco and helped start Western Star Dancers club as their first instructor. He did "return" to the C4 level in the 2000's and kept dancing, even with his vision loss. He danced better blind than most of us did with sight! He was truly an amazing dancer and person, and will be missed.
I first got to know Bill around 2003 when he helped angel a Chi-Town C1 class. This renewed his interest in square dancing at the time, and he went on to help many others who were interested in learning the higher levels outside of the club, conducting many classes and workshops at his home in Wilmette. He was instrumental in bringing his late sister Barb into the activity, and just last month he organized Barb’s internment service and welcomed people at his home after.
I am sure others can add their tributes and contributions he made to our activity. Certainly he will be missed for a long time, and his passing makes this difficult year even more tragic.
Also, Allan Hurst wrote to say that the IAGSDC History Project has set up a memorial page for Bill at: https://www.iagsdchistory.org/historywiki/index.php/Bill_Klein, and is looking for information, stories and photos to fill out the page. Please send photos, stories, articles, memories, etc. to: info@iagsdchistory.org
Carrie Maxwell of the Windy City Times also wrote a nice article about Bill Klein in the 2020-09-16 issue. You can find it online at http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/PASSAGES-Computer-programmer-Chi-Town-Squares-member-Bill-Klein-passes-away/69220.html
Further detailing Bill’s achievements and their historical context, on October 22,2020 the Chicago Sun-TImes published an expanded obituary of Bill Klein, accessible here.
