Memorial created 04-23-2008 by
Pat & Aya Dougherty |
Bill Balsamo
September 24 1943 - April 22 2008 |
Guest Book Entries are free and are posted after being reviewed for appropriate content.
[1] 2 3 Next >>>03-29-2011 9:06 AM -- By: Hidey, From: Kakogawa, Hyogo A long time has passed since I last visited you, this webpage.
Last April I was transferred to a highschool in Kobe and from this April I am working in a school for disabled students in Fukuyama, Hiroshima.
I will always think of you, Mr. Balsamo, even if I move from Kakogawa to Fukuyama. I will come agian soon...
10-15-2010 3:08 PM -- By: Regina Huzior-Balzan, From: Florida Mr. Balsamo was my religion teacher in Stella Maris High School, Rockaway Beach, NY around 1973-74. He was a sweet and gentle person. He had so much patience, especially teaching a class of teenage girls.
10-11-2010 11:01 AM -- By: Kumiko Ito, From: Japan I'm very shocked to know he has passed away...I just happned to encounter this page serching Bill-sensei on the internet...Now I really don't know what to say..anyway, I really appreciate Pat and Aya for this Memorial, thank you so much.I'm one of many Bill-sensei's old students and we kept writing , though not so often, for years till a couple of years ago when I moved and after settled down in the new place I wrote to him again but my letter was returned without reaching him... I don't know what to say, what to know...all I can do now is to pray for him...
10-06-2010 2:50 PM -- By: Jean Kestel, From: Valley Stream NY
10-05-2010 10:40 PM -- By: Jon Lieb, From: Tokyo Bill, still thinking of the good deeds you did, two years later, and how much we learned from you. Hope you're good wherever you are.
08-16-2010 3:11 AM -- By: Steve, From: Taiwan What a great teacher of English!! I really enjoyed his writings and they are quite useful in teaching ESL students in my class. By the way, since the Geocities site has been down for quite a while, does anyone here have the articles from here? www.geocities.com/yamataro670/Stories.htm
I can no longer access the webpage, so if anyone has the articles, could you please share with me? My e-mail is steve.ubc@gmail.com It'd be greatly appreciated. TIA
08-11-2010 8:24 PM -- By: Tim Newfields, From: Japan I was inspired by an article Bill wrote in the JALT Global Issues SIG Newsletter about Bangaldesh back in 1990. I also remember his quiet humor when talking at a Cambodia TESOL Conference.
12-01-2009 12:10 AM -- By: Kirianne Davis, From: Minnesota Bill Balsamo was my great uncle. I did not get to know him very well because of the distance, but I truly cared for him and I believe that we have similar hearts for the world. I am truly saddened that I will never be able to work with him in his orphanage like I hoped I would be able to. Even though I have given him to God I am still sad that i was not able to share my heart with him, and my admirations. He seemed wonderful.
10-19-2009 5:45 PM -- By: Jennifer, From: Canada I met Bill a few times in Japan at various conferences and events in the late 1990s. I corresponded with him a few times over the years and was honoured to know him. He quietly went about doing amazing things in the world and helping those who needed help the most. A kind and gentle soul - may you enjoy your well-earned place in heaven.
09-27-2009 12:15 PM -- By: Jim Dowdy, From: Stevensville, Md. I knew Bill as a seminarian. We were never cllose but he had a twinkle in his eye and a quiet charm which swas very inviting. We were talking about art in our deacon year and Bill wanted to try oil painting. I asked if he would paint four major cathedrals signifying the four major styles of European art. No problem. When I was ready to get ordained, Bill presented with an oil painting of Notre Dame in Paris. It was the only one he finioshed and very apologetic said it was more than he expected. When asked how much I owed him, he smiled and said it was an ordination gift. He had let me down. That painting was so beautiful. It has hung in my house ever since. Thyat was Bill. Kind and generous and humble. He will be missed.
06-18-2009 6:03 AM -- By: Steven Thompson, From: Osaka Japan I met Bill on three occasions at teacher events. His work teaching English and his writings are wonderful for my students. Bill inspires me to build and share and offer opportunities for people to acquire English and grow in compassion.
Bill's Writings: www.geocities.com/yamataro670/Stories.htm
06-18-2009 6:02 AM -- By: Steven Thompson, From: Osaka Japan
03-15-2009 3:55 AM -- By: aya, From: Himeji It was a year ago when we were looking after you along with many others. Now we are leaving Himeji, soon, I want to say a final good bye to you, but you will be in our hearts no matter wherever we are. So long Bill.
Love,
Aya
01-30-2009 10:18 AM -- By: , From: Our heartfelt condolences is hereby conveyed to the family members and friends on the irreplaceable loss of our good old friend Mr. Balasamo.
P.H.Dayawansa(Sunil)
No.34, Ariyagama, Hatton.
Sri Lanka
01-30-2009 10:05 AM -- By: , From: Our heartfelt condolences is hereby conveyed to the family members and feiends on the irreplaceable loss of our good old friend Mr.Balasamo.
P.H. Dayawansa(Sunil),No 34, Ariya gama,Hatton.
Sri Lanka
10-16-2008 10:30 AM -- By: Yoshi Omura, From: Kobe, Japan I met Bill almost 20 years ago when I started teaching at a high school in Kakogawa, Japan. We became very close and spent many weekends together for good three years until I left for the U.S. to study.
I should have kept better contact with you, Bill, but I was really glad that we got together again for a cup of coffee last year. I'd like to say "May you rest peacefully", but I am sure you are still busy working for others even up there.
06-25-2008 8:59 AM -- By: Kae , From: Himeji, Japan I still can not believe you are gone. I was one of your students last year, and you told me a lot of stories of your trip. I loved to talk with you because you made me feel like going on a trip with you. Last time we met in January, you said to me that "Thank you for being my student". I always remember your words. Thank you for being my teacher.
Miss you,
06-23-2008 9:15 PM -- By: John P. Moroney, From: New York Bill was a very kind and gentle man. His passing signifies a true loss to this world. I was privileged to get my first guitar from Bill about 30 years ago, when he resided in our home in the Rockaways. I was very grateful for this unsolicited offer by Bill.
We can only hope that those presented with the opportunity of meeting Bill can pass on the fine attributesof Bill to others we encounter in the world. He was a genuine man with great integrity and compassion. God Bless you Bill.
06-23-2008 5:20 PM -- By: Volodymyr Ivaskiv, From: Ukraine/ Alpharetta, GA He was a very warm and sencire man. God rest his soul.
I never knew him, but I've heard many good things from his family and friends.
06-23-2008 12:14 PM -- By: kevin moroney, From: belle harbor, new york Bill had rented an apartment in my parents house in Rockaway Beach New York, I remember the Bill as a very gentle, friendly, well educated and sincere man. I was young at the time ( grade school) but realized even that Bill was a special and interesting man. Through out the years I would ask my mother about Bill and she would tell me he was teaching over in Japan. Reading from comments that other people mentioned, I am amazed at how much Bill has offered and positively impacted the lives of so many and from various parts of the world, a true testament that we all should strive to be caring and giving to our fellow mankind.
Bill enjoyed his time in Rockaways, especially the beach, he left Rockaway Beach, New York, because he got his calling to go spread the word of God by helping people in their lives. He is now in heaven where for a change he is being taken care of. God is blessing him.
kevin moroney 718-909-7717
06-09-2008 4:39 PM -- By: Anna Balsamo Acconi, From: Greenville, New York Eulogy – William Bill Balsamo
June 7, 2008
Everyone at the Brooklyn Savings Bank knew my brother Bill. As a young man, he would go into the bank on Court Street and Atlantic Avenue every week with his bankbook and the collection of pennies, nickels and dimes that he had managed to save that week to have these deposited into his account. He would come home proudly displaying the increase posted in his bankbook. What we all failed to realize at the time was that this behavior represented a pattern that Bill was to incorporate into his life. For Bill, no amount of money was too small, no action was too insignificant, no amount of time was too little to accomplish something worthwhile. Fifteen minutes was not wasted on rest or inactivity; it was used to work on one of the many projects he always had in process.
In Bill’s eighth grade graduation book from Sacred Hearts, Mother Anna wrote that Bill had never done things by halves and this was so true. In all of Bill’s life works, he entered with zeal and an enthusiasm that was infectious. His delights became passions and Bill’s first real passion was for music, mostly operatic and classical. As a young boy, Bill attended Sunday afternoon concerts at the Brooklyn Museum. After each concert, he would memorize the program and seek to find the music and immerse himself in it. While other boys his age were listening to Elvis, Bill was listening to WQXR, a classical music station. It was never enough for him to listen to a new piece of music. He would have to understand and know every aspect of a musical piece; its background, its historical significance, its every note and nuance. Bill did not consider that he knew an opera unless he could sing every role.
When Bill was 27 years of age, in 1971, at that time a teacher at Stella Maris High School, he began musical studies with Delia Regal, a former soprano of the Metropolitan Opera. In 1975, he gave his first recital at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, featuring a program of German lieder and Italian arias. In the years following, Bill performed as a chorister and soloist at more than 90 productions, working mostly with Queens College Opera Workshop, Stuyvesant Opera, Amato Opera Showcase, Brooklyn Lyric Opera Company, Portable Opera Players and Regina Pacis Opera. He performed in more than 32 operas. In addition, Bill studied set design at the Parson’s School for Design and created scenery for many opera companies. To his credit were productions of Tosca, Barber of Seville, La Traviata, Un Ballo in Maschera, La Boheme and Amahl and the Night Visitors.
To understand how incredibly hard Bill worked at his craft, you only need to look at a two month period in late 1978 when Bill appeared in productions of Die Fledermaus , La Boheme, Tales of Hoffman, Anna Bolena and Rigoletto while performing in a Christmas program at Regina Pacis and creating a set design for Bluebeard’s Castle. Music continued to be a passion for Bill and many colleagues and friends remember fondly his penchant for breaking out in song at any given time. He recently returned to formal singing by joining a chorus in his local parish in Himeji.
When opera became too costly, this, of course according to Bill, he became a devotee of cinema and plunged into the study of film in the same way that he did with opera. It wasn’t enough for him to watch and enjoy movies. Bill explored and collected films from every part of the globe. If there was an obscure, but respected, film creator in Roumania, you can be sure that Bill had a rare collection of his works. In addition to his cinema studies, Bill wrote extensively, creating 60 short stories, three uncompleted novels, articles and many travelogues. He also wrote and published more than fifteen language textbooks for the teaching of English to Japanese students.
Another great passion of Bill’s life was travel. His introduction to the world outside of Brooklyn occurred in 1965 when, as a student at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, Bill was given the opportunity to travel to Peru during the summer to work with the native people in the Andes. Bill spent three summers in Peru where he developed his own adventurous style of travel, enjoying the exhilaration of discovering new worlds, meeting new people and remaining close to the culture of the country he was exploring. A colleague of Bill’s once marveled that Bill traveled to places that he had only seen by viewing the Discovery channel. Expanding his interest in foreign cultures, Bill enrolled in a Master’s program in 1982 at New York University where he studied Eastern religions. Part of the curriculum involved travel during three summers to India, Russia and East Asia. This love for experiencing new worlds remained with Bill throughout his life. He visited more than 80 countries and immersed himself in the cultures. His last trip took him to Mustang, a remote kingdom in the Himalayas open to the world only in the past 15 years. Even though the trip was more rigorous than he should have attempted, Bill wrote that he was exhilarated to have made that voyage.
Bill was an inspiring and dedicated teacher. His teaching career began at Stella Maris High School where he taught for 17 years, instituting a program for the study of Russian. When Bill went to Japan in 1985, it was with the intent to spend two years teaching English there and then returning to the U.S. Fate had different plans and Bill lost his heart to the East. He first taught in the city of Ono and oversaw the teaching of English in the profecture. After the two - year program was completed, he received a teaching position at Kenmei University in Himeji where he became a professor, and at Himeji Dokkyo University where he taught part time. Bill was proud of the fact that he never entered a classroom unprepared and spent many hours developing his teaching skills. He was president of Himeji JALT, the Japanese Association of Language Teachers, for more than ten years, leading the organization, inspiring teachers, writing JALT newsletters and collaborating with similar associations in Russia and Bangladesh. He created a program for teachers in Asia called Teachers Helping Teachers (THT), which sponsors conferences for teachers in many Asian countries including Laos, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Russia. The program seeks to expand the teaching of skills for language teachers.
To illustrate the respect that Bill deservedly received, I will tell a brief story that occurred in Himeji when my sister, Lucy, my niece, Lisa, and I visited. Bill directed us to the International Center which he frequently visited to gain access to free internet service, warning us that we might be unsuccessful because we did not have the necessary cards. When we were told that we would need the mandatory card, we revealed that we were family of Bill Balsamo. Immediately, all doors opened. “Oh, Mr. Balsamo. How is he? We hear that he is ill.” Within ten minutes, a young woman appeared. Tearfully she told us that she was a former student of Bill’s and that he had helped her even after she left his class. She wanted to do anything she could to help him and us. The outpouring of love and respect for Bill in Japan was truly overwhelming and so well deserved.
It seems that all of Bill’s life experiences led him to his final passion – his love of the poor and his empathy for their struggle. His many travels and his selfless commitment to making the world better finally gave him a purpose for the pennies, nickels and dimes that he saved from the time he was a young man. He finally understood the purpose of his money. Surely, it was never to provide himself with luxuries. He lived poorly and monastically because he chose to do so. He gave up his car when he went to Japan, preferring to travel by bike. He even prided himself on the fact that he never purchased a bicycle because one was always given to him when he was in need. His charity work was multifaceted and spanned the globe. He financed orphanages, dormitories and clinics and he sponsored the education of many individual students, paying for their college expenses so that they could achieve success. One of the young men that Bill sponsored, Tuy, is currently marketing manager for a Ford dealership in Laos and is quite successful. He acknowledges that, were it not for Bill’s generosity, he would not have been able to achieve success in life.
Over the years, Bill developed a desire to build an orphanage in honor of his mother and thought to create it in Nepal. In the late 90’s, he went to Bangladesh where he was caught up in a monsoon flood, nearly losing his life. He ended up in Dhaka at a mission which was set up as a refuge for flood victims. There he met the boys of the Garo people, a minority group originally from Tibet, and saw the work being done by the Brothers of the Holy Cross Mission. Their need and his desire to help caused Bill to finance the building of Casa Anna, an orphanage for boys in Dhaka as a memorial to his mother and on April 23, 2002, Casa Anna was dedicated. There are currently more than 30 boys who are being cared for at the orphanage and who study at the adjacent school, learning a trade in electricity, mechanics, welding or carpentry so that they can create a future they would have otherwise been denied.
Bill then financed the building of a dormitory. On March 31, 2005, Casa Antonino was dedicated as a memorial to Bill’s father. This dormitory is located 75 miles from Dhaka in the village of Biroi and currently houses 67 boys. Were it not for the dormitory, these boys would be denied an education because they would have to travel up to 25 miles a day to attend school. Most of the boys would have to be working to support families. In August of 2007 Bill witnessed the building of the third floor of the dormitory which will be able to house more boys. He also financed the building of a hostel in Jinja, Uganda, which is currently in construction. Bill was also supporting projects in Vietnam, Nepal, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Eastern Russia.
We are pleased to have here today several guests representing the Brothers of the Holy Cross Mission.; Br. Subal Rosario, who is the vice Provincial of the Holy Cross Brothers in Bangladesh and principal of St. Phillip’s High School in Dinajpur, 125 miles north of Dhaka, Br. John Rosario who has retired as the provincial of the Holy Cross Brothers and headmaster of St. Joseph’s High School and College in Dhaka and Fr. Emmanuel who is from India and is currently studying in the Bronx. They can attest to the needs of so many people in this world who can profit from the charitable work that Bill provided. In Bill’s honor, memorial masses are being said today in Notre Dame and in Bangladesh.
Bill would be honored, but he never looked for praise for his work. He simply lived his life as he knew was right. He never saw any action as too small nor any effort as too overwhelming. He saw every chance to help the poor as an opportunity. At Kenmei University, he organized several student volunteers to run a pizza shop at a local festival. They sold pizza toast covered with tomato sauce and mozzarella with optional toppings of tuna or ham. Over 200 pizza toasts were sold and 20,000 yen was raised for the center for needy children in Nepal. The following year, Bill added furukake pasta to the menu, melding an Italian taste with a Japanese accent.
A fellow professor at Himeji Dokkyo University said of Bill,” Many people say they are Christian, but Bill was one of the few people who actually followed in the steps of Jesus and showed love to others, not just with words, but with actions. Many wish the world was a better place, but Bill made it so with actions.”
For the dedication of Casa Antonino, Bill wrote a tribute to his father. “He instilled in his children a respect for hard work and encouraged them to settle for nothing less than their best. If my father was strict with his children, it was because he was strict with himself. He wanted to teach life values and he did so by example and few words. He worked hard even when he was not well. He never complained about his hardships, but bore them stoically and with a sense of acceptance and endurance.” The same can be said for Bill. He lived his life according to his own rules, never losing his enthusiasm for life’s adventures.
Ultimately, Bill was a master teacher. He inspired and he encouraged his colleagues, friends and students to aim higher than they thought possible. Noted educator and historian Henry Adams stated, “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” Bill, through his teaching, through his charitable works, through his many kindnesses, has affected eternity. His influence will be felt in the lives of all those he has touched and will continue to touch. There is a saying in Proverbs 19:17 that reads, “He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord and He will reward him for what he has done.” If this is true, we know that Bill is being rewarded a thousand fold. We wish him peace in this, his final journey.
When we lived at home and were about to leave the house, we would tell my mother that we were leaving. She always responded with an Italian expression that translated to, “May the Blessed Mother accompany you.” So we say today, as my mother would have said, “Madonna te va’compagne.”
Anyone wishing to contribute to Casa Anna and Casa Antonino should send contributions to:
Rev. David E. Schlaver
Holy Cross Missions
P.O. Box 543
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556-0543
Indicate that the money is to be used for the children at Casa Anna and Casa Antonino.
06-07-2008 5:01 AM -- By: Br. Charles Kowalski, From: Kanagawa, Japan Bill once shared with me a story he had written, about a lion who wanted to be a gazelle. His wish is only granted at the end of his life: “Kumba’s gentle soul offered little resistance [to death]. He realized it was his fate to be a sacrificial offering to his spirit of peace. His life now took on a majestic sense of self-sacrifice which echoed across the plain. From death came rebirth in the spirit of the soul. Kumba breathed a new life; his lion spirit was being transformed into that of a gazelle. His former majesty was transformed into silent grace. His spirit grew and his transformation was complete. In death he was given a new life, one which was invisible to the other forms of life on the plain, but it was a life he had merited through desire and sacrifice. His spirit was now free, and he swept across the plains possessed by a freedom unknown to those who had loved him before. His spirit rose and floated on the winds to disappear into the clouds.” Bill knew about lions. Whenever he saw an opportunity to help someone in need, he pounced on it like a lion. Whenever he got an idea for a way to make the world a better place, he pursued it with a lion’s power. He knew about gazelles, too. He bounded all over the world with a light and graceful step, like a gazelle, living life in peace and causing harm to no one. He knew about sacrifice. It seems that his whole life was a continuous giving of self: to orphans throughout Asia and Africa; to all the charitable causes he supported; to his colleagues in English teaching in Japan and the rest of Asia; and indeed to anyone who spent time with him. And he knew – and now knows better than any of us can – about glorious transformations. He lived his life so that he would be ready, at any moment, to be called back Home, give an account of his life, and hear the sweet “Well done!”. Now, like the lion in his story, he has a new life, invisible to us, and possessed by a freedom unknown to those who had loved him before. We will miss him as his spirit disappears into the clouds – but when those clouds send down a gentle rain to water the seeds he planted, in orphanages and classrooms all over the world and in the hearts of all who knew him, let it be a reminder to us that his spirit is alive.
06-06-2008 3:55 PM -- By: Ann-Marie Balsamo, From: Floral Park Ny He's now living with the angels
06-05-2008 8:57 AM -- By: Bob Sanderson, From: Osaka Bill, What a shame to have you leave us like this. You still didn't pay me back from the last EBM the money I lent you. Please consider it now a donation to your THT group and give me interest when I see you in purgatory...
RIP and get to heaven soon..
Bob
06-03-2008 5:53 AM -- By: Hideto D. Harashima, From: Maebashi, Japan I met Bill for the first time in Bangkok where we had a PacCALL conference. He was very friendly to me and he showed me some of the poems he compiled that time. He also gave me extracts of some of the stories he wrote. All of them were very interesting. He has kept these good stories of his own on the web page "On-Line Reading Lab: America-Today and Tomorrow." I have been a big fan of this site and I always take my students there, encouraging them to read at least one story and write a summary. I have been certainly saddened by the news of his death, but I will be equally disappointed if this site disappears. I hope somebody keeps this site in Bill's memory. It is his legacy.
I also have some fond memories of sharing spiritual time with him in some of Christian worship services held during the National Conferences of JALT. He was surely a quiet inspiration. Thank you Bill, and rest in peace.
06-03-2008 3:29 AM -- By: John Paul Loucky, From: JAPAN William Balsamo, who had once trained to become a priest at St Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore 1965-69, was a kind and gentle man. He clearly showed real love for all his teaching colleagues, students and friends. As a person of deep Christian faith, he never pushed his beliefs on others, preferring to show his faith in loving actions as taught and demonstrated by his Lord. He was a faithful supporter of JALT locally and nationally, as well as supporting its annual CSALT worship times.
Grateful to Bangladeshis who had saved him from a flood, he established the lst of his charitable building funds. Despite danger to himself, he went to such areas to serve others. One of his best websites is the top-knotch Online Reading Lab located at (add www if needed) geocities.com/yamataro670/readinglab.htm. It is also incorporated as the lst Online Reading Lab on CALL4ALL.us' R-Reading Page at call4all.us///home/_all.php?fi=r. We hope that students and teachers alike will continue to use his books and websites to learn and grow. May we follow the example of loving service that he set and also followed: that of "Doing unto Others" and "Loving Your Neighbor as yourself." We would all do well to "Go and do likewise!"
05-30-2008 6:25 PM -- By: Bill White, From: USA/Japan I wish I had one more chance to thank Bill for all that he had taught me about helping others. I surely do and will miss Bill.
I am sure you are still watching over us and want to say "Thanks" Bill.
May you rest in peace.
Bill
05-27-2008 9:45 AM -- By: Md. Jamal Hossain, From: Dhaka We cannot believe that such a great heart can leave us so early. The sweet memories with Bill will remain ever fresh in our heart.
Bill, we miss you very much particularly your loving company and pretty smile. What you have done for mankind, in general for English Language Teachers worlwide is simply the greatest. Perhaps none can compensate the loss your premature departure has created among us. May your soul rest in eternal peace.
05-27-2008 9:19 AM -- By: Shakila Nur, From: Dhaka,Bangladesh I met Prof. Bill Balsamo when he came to Bangladesh as the team leader of THT. His death is an irreparable loss to BELTA (Bangladesh Englisg Language Teachers' Association) as well as the Teachers' Associations of all countries since he was a dedicated and self-less resource person. We miss you Bill. May God bless his soul.
05-16-2008 2:32 PM -- By: Ron Cioffi, From: New Jersey USA Please send me particulars of Bill's funeral rites and or hi burial, and any family I may contact. Thank you, Ron C
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