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<em>William Edwin Creighton </em>was born on Mar 23, 1935, in Findlay, OH, to Luther and Lucille (Perkins) Creighton. After some grade school in Mississippi, he attended Findlay High School for three years, graduating in 1953. From there he attended Pennsylvania Military College for one year before being appointed to West Point by Jackson E. Betts of Ohio’s 8th District. Bill entered West Point with the Class of ’59 but decided to spend an extra year and graduate with the Class of ’60. He earned his football numerals his first plebe year and also ran plebe track, but then gave up varsity athletics partly because of a severe case of mononucleosis and also to concentrate on academics. He served on the Class Committee and the Debate Council. His was always the calm, quiet voice of reason and he had friends throughout the Corps and in all classes. He was the obvious choice to be our Company Commander when we moved into our First Class year. Company H-2, for a variety of reasons, contained some memorable, atypical cadets. It was Bill’s chore to constrain that volatility without destroying the camaraderie we enjoyed. Somehow he rose above us without our being beneath him, and he successfully ran the company in his calm but professional manner. At graduation he was commissioned in the Artillery and earned his Airborne wings and Ranger tab.</p>
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Bill had expected from a very young age to follow in the footsteps of his father and role model and to make a career in the military. He had the greatest respect for his father who had been an Infantry major in the South Pacific during WWII. However, for reasons of family health, Bill resigned from the Army in 1963 to pursue a career in hospital administration. His West Point experience, the Ranger and Airborne training, as well as a unit assignment, gave him the leadership skills necessary to succeed in the civilian world.</p>
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He graduated from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago and, in 1965, began a career in health care administration. Assignments in the field took him to hospitals in Dayton, OH (1964-1972), Portland, OR (1972-75), Pittsburgh, PA (1976-79), and, finally, his hometown of Findlay, OH (1980-1994). Bill’s work during these years involved leadership in hospitals and coordinating the work of healthcare clinicians and physicians. He was not the straitlaced, bureaucratic, inflexible administrator that some might think would have resulted from his background. Instead he was a warm, calm consensus builder whose door was always open. Bill was a highly respected administrator in these various hospitals, maintaining professional relationships long after he departed each facility. He was selected as a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.</p>
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His amyotrophic lateral sclerosis was not diagnosed until March of 1993 and he succumbed on May 25, 1994. He concealed his illness from all but his closest family and friends. There was a retirement party at the hospital only a couple of weeks before he died where some of those present were completely unaware of his illness.</p>
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Bill became Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Blanchard Valley Hospital in Findlay and was so respected that, upon his untimely death, the physicians voted to dedicate the newest hospital department in his honor. In December 1994 the Creighton Dialysis Center was established in the hospital. In February of 2007 the Center, which had outgrown its initial facilities, moved to a new professional building along the beautiful “Old Mill Stream” in Findlay.</p>
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Two weeks before Bill died the president of the Blanchard Valley Hospital wrote him a letter in which he said, among other things, “There is not another person I have met in this life who had the principles of Bill Creighton. Professionally at BVH we are retiring the Executive Vice President title, as no one can wear your jersey. On our invisible rafters, Bill, your jersey will forever flutter in the air reminding us of what is good about life.” He also made an insightful comment in the hospital’s newsletter immediately after Bill’s death. He described how the senior staff of the hospital, after much deliberation, had finally converged on a mission statement and a vision statement. At that point Bill, who was already having speech and writing difficulties, took out a pencil and wrote: “The mission of improved health status will be offered with respect, courtesy, compassion, privacy, sensitivity, and confidentiality.” That was his legacy and guiding principle, namely to always treat others as you would like to be treated.</p>
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Bill leaves behind sons Shaun and William and a daughter Melody. He is also survived by his loving and devoted widow Lynn (Matera) Creighton.</p>
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It should come as no surprise that the entire entry for Bill in the 1960 <em>Howitzer</em> was the Robert Burns poem that begins with:</p>
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“O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us to see airselves as ithers see us.” </p>
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Yes, Bill, it may be said, “Well Done!” No one could have done it better. Rest in Peace, Bill.</p>
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<em>— Classmates and Lynn</em></p>