Navy veteran survived Korean War attack, shared love of sports
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Scottdale native Bill Bair frequently carried an attache case in the early 1950s, but the documents he bore weren’t business files.
Often they were important military papers entrusted to him as an assistant to Korean War officers.
Though he enlisted in the Navy in 1948, Bair usually traveled aboard airplanes during his four years in the service. One ground-based courier route placed him in harm’s way — when his convoy was attacked by North Korean foes with an explosive device.
“It blew up in front of him, and he smashed his face into the dashboard of his Jeep and busted a bunch of teeth,” said Bair’s son-in-law, David Cassler. “A motorcycle picked him up and took off.”
William C. “Bill” Bair, 90, of Greensburg, and formerly of Scottdale, Bear Rocks and Ligonier, died Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2019, in Greensburg Care Center, Hempfield. Born Aug. 31, 1929, in Scottdale, he was a son of the late William Frederick Bair and Madeline Dorothy (Porter) Bair Ostrosky.
With his military case handcuffed to his right wrist, Mr. Bair was told, “If you get caught, they’re going to cut off your hand, so don’t get caught,” Cassler said.
Fortunately, Mr. Bair survived the Korean War with his limbs intact. Trained as a draftsman while in the Navy, he put those skills to use as a civilian, performing similar work for more than 40 years for the Duraloy Blaw-Knox company in Scottdale.
Mr. Bair enjoyed athletic competition throughout his life, playing with the Scottdale YMCA basketball team in his younger days and with a local softball league as an adult.
He made a successful switch to coaching in the early 1960s and joined with two like-minded men to organize the Scottdale Little League at the town’s Garfield Park.
“He was a good leader,” daughter Carol Cassler said of his coaching. “The kids loved him. He had six of us kids growing up, so he almost had his own team.”
As a girl, Carol Cassler was barred from joining her father’s team. But she said his example inspired her to coach her own lineup of Little League players for eight years after she moved to Ligonier.
“I hung out at the park every time he coached,” she said.
One of Mr. Bair’s favorite pastimes was golfing, which he pursued in several golf leagues and as a frequent player at Mulberry Hill Golf Course near Mt. Pleasant. Though his eyesight wasfailing later in life, “he hit every shot straight down the middle,” said his son-in-law.
A highlight was meeting his idol, Latrobe native Arnie Palmer, at the Casslers’ Ligonier restaurant.
“The smile on his face was priceless,” David Cassler said of his father-in-law.
Mr. Bair’s devotion to his family included caring for his wife, the former Rose Marie Sopko, for nine years before she succumbed to Lou Gehrig’s disease, in June 1985. “He wouldn’t put her in a nursing home,” Carol Cassler said.
In addition to his parents and wife, Mr. Bair was preceded in death by a daughter, Patti Stiltenpole; a grandson, Brian Stiltenpole; and two sisters.
He is survived by five children, William “Bill” and his wife, Sherry, of Latrobe, Carol Cassler and her husband, David, of Ligonier, Ronald “Ron” and his wife, Missy, of Connellsville, Kathleen “Kathy” Kindevater and her husband, Ed, of Connellsville, and Todd of Pittsburgh; numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren; a sister; numerous nieces and nephews.
Family and friends are invited to attend a graveside committal service and inurnment at noon Jan. 4 in Mt. Joy Cemetery. Military honors will be bestowed by the Scottdale-Everson Honor Guard. Robert B. Ferguson Funeral Home of Scottdale is in charge of arrangements.
Memorial contributions may be made to Greensburg Care Center.