William James Stolp

My Uncle Bill was a very nice and caring man. I always wanted to be like him and do good for others like he does. I have always looked up to him as my hero and the one who would save me from a fire, earthquake, tornado, etc. This is why he is my hero.

Bill is a selfless man, he would never leave someone behind or get in a life boat while people still weren’t on one. I remember when we were in ValleyFair, (Minnesota) waiting in line for a roller-coaster called Wild Thing. Two friends got split up, one was in front of us, and one was behind us. No one would let him in front of them, but then, my uncle said “You can skip us to get to your friend,” even though he got booed and got mean scowls, he let him skip us and ignored the others. Another time he put others before him was, when we were in Hawaii on a cruise for seven days. My mom got 3 tickets for a helicopter ride over the island that Jurassic Park was filmed on. My uncle was invited with my mom and brother. My mom thought that I wouldn’t sit that long but my uncle said that if i wanted to go I could take his place. I would have taken the opportunity but I got the flu and was getting sick all the time in our room. So he invited my dad instead and my dad took his place.

My uncle was also a brave person, no matter what, he would never back down from anything. In 2003 he was coming back from a snowmobile trip, and going through an intersection his driver got T-Boned. It turns out the driver was drunk when he drove through a red light and got T-Boned by a truck. The driver died on impact, and my uncle broke his elbow and had to get a metal rod in his elbow. With his broken elbow he helped others out of the car until the ambulance came.

Bill was filled with humor and joy. He would never make me have a dull day in my life by cracking hilarious jokes all the time. No matter how bad I was feeling he would always make me laugh. One time when I got yelled at by my mom for breaking a drinking glass, I ran upstairs into my room and just sat there pouting. My uncle came up the stairs with the funniest face ever and made me laugh, and made my day. When I was wrestling with my brother and hit my head on the wall. It started to bleed a little bit but he was there to make jokes about the wall and my brother to make me not cry.

My uncle showed me how being humorous, brave, and selfless helps make you a better person. When people are sad and very down I can make them laugh with retelling his jokes. When someone is getting thrown to the ground or being bullied, I can be brave and stop the bully from hurting them anymore. I can listen to others who need to say something to me so I can help them. Now his qualities have helped me to become a better person.