Bill "Yooper" Seward

The 2010 dental laboratory show season is upon us. The premier event, The CDS Midwinter Dental Convention starts on Thursday.
I anxiously wait to see those folks that together with me, do the circuit all year long. This is my seventh season of lecturing and exhibiting and it never gets old.

I pause to remember the turning point in my career some 8 years ago, when after 2 years of participating on the old NADL forum, Bill Seward and myself decided to take the idea of removable technicians exchanging ideas online and hold a technical forum live, concurrent with the Midwinter event.

Bill and I spoke for months formulating who would have what duties and what topics would be most relevent for those attending. I remember the fun Bill and I had exchanging ideas, throwing out some and expounding on others. We laughed, we exchanged views, we made joint decisions, and we agreed. The cool thing was that Bill and I had never really met in person, yet I felt like we had known each other for years. He was always the calmer side of the friendship, with me being a bit more hyper. I looked forward to talking and our dailey exchange of dental ideas on that old forum. About every 6 -9 weeks one of us would pick up the phone and run something by the other. Both of us would cradle the phones against our necks and grind away setting teeth, or finishing a denture, the whirl of the handpiece in each others background.

The forum eventually came and we finally met in person. It was so cool to have someone you had never met in person make you feel like we were childhood buddies.

The forum was held in a suite in the Sheraton. I had convinced one of the dental manufacturers to sponsor the event. About 25 people attended and they were technicians from all different demographics, yet they all had the common bond of working day to day in a dental laboratory. We spent about two hours that day complete strangers but by the end of the event we all telling "war stories" that technicians are known to tell when the doors are closed and theres not a DDS within earshot.
After the event that day, Bill and I split up, each meeting different people and attending separate venues.

Bill and I stayed in touch for years after that meeting in Chicago, with the ever occasional call and a story or question to pose. After the NADL forum lost steam Bill and I participated in several other forums, along with an occasional meet in Chicago for a Midwinter show, and phone calls in between. Over that time priorities in life changed, I got busy during the next years lecturing and travelling. Bill met the woman of his dreams, had a son, and bought half of the laboratory he and John worked at.

When Bill had the opportunity, he invited me to lecture on Mackinac Island for him and Johns dental seminar company. My gal Liz and I stayed 2 days on the island at the Grand with Bill and his wife Candy. Bill and I bonded again, both now in different places in our lives but still with the common ground of elevating what we do for a living, and a love for what we do. Although living hundreds of miles apart, Liz and I left there feeling as though we established a lifelong friendship with the Sewards.

The next year Bill and I crossed paths at the MACDL meeting in Detroit. He came down to meet up, since I was lecturing and he needed the credits to maintain his CDT. We met up with Bruce Keeling, and John Bach the night before the show and had an outstanding dinner. Four`technicians talking "tech" all dinner long swapping stories and laughing. Bill in his always gracious way wanted to pick up dinner, because as he said "we were guests in his state". Of course we didnt allow it, but it was just Bills way to offer. That was 2008.

During the Christmas 2008 renewed by our recent MACDL experience, we started talking about trying to capture lighting in a bottle again with another forum at the Midwinter. We hashed out some ideas on topics and sponsors, and said we would talk about it further as the year progressed.
Later, in May 2009 I received a phone call from Bills buddy John. Bill had passed away after laying down to rest after a full day of celebrating mothers day with his wife and son Zack. It floored me. Over the months I mourned for Bill and his wife and child. Life is so fragile and many times so unfair.
So, the purpose of this post, is just to share Bills influence on me, and to dedicate my 2010 lecture season to his memory, in place of the live forum we had planned to hold together.