William "Bill"GISH

William H. Gish III

(Deceased 2016)

Link to William Gish III’s obituary on legacy.com

Bill's 2011 Autobiography

After high school I attended Trinity College from 1961-1966 where I played 3 years of basketball, 4 years of lacrosse, and football in my senior year. I actually got honorable mention in Sports Illustrated as wide receiver for small schools.

One of my most memorable events occurred the summer of 1963 when I decided to hitchhike across the country and ended up joining the Ringling Bros Circus in Milwaukee. For 2 and half months I traveled with the circus on the train. I worked as a roustabout; setting up and tearing down for each show. We hit all the northern states and ended up in the northwest and then on down to Los Angeles. I hit the road again and outside of New Mexico I was picked up by a couple of Native Americans. They put in the back seat with some comic books and a beer. A little bit later they asked me if I was okay with them picking up another hitchhiker. They pulled over and a soldier climbed in, looked at me, and said; “Gish, what the hell are you doing here?” It was Pete Cahagen (spelling?). He was headed back to Westport from Camp Pendleton and I was on my way to Virginia to see my brother Stu. Small world…..

Got disillusioned with school and got myself booted out for a year. The dean told me to keep out of trouble and come back and let me know what I did with my year away. I went to New York and worked for a bit, but Vietnam was picking up so I joined the Marine Corp as a reserve, which has a six year commitment. I graduated boot camp at the top of my class of 91 men. My LT told me I could have a great career as a marine, but if my college would take me back, I should go back to school and finish.

After graduation, I headed back to NYC where I began a career in advertising sales for IBM, Esquire, Newsweek Intl, and ultimately with the New York Yankees. After 5 yrs I realized I wanted to own my own business, but I just didn’t know what it would be.

I was married to Cynthia Cummins from Manhasset, Long Island in 1968. We headed west to San Diego in 1969 to find something new. I trained as a stockbroker, but knew it wasn’t for me. I kept looking for business opportunities. I stumbled into the flower business when I responded to an ad in the local paper. The commercial property that I could afford was so crummy that I turned it down the first time. The realtor called me a month later and said let me show you a successful growers property and then you decide. I realized I could make this work and if not I could always go back to the City and advertising.

40 years later, I live on the original 4 acres I bought in 1970. At one time, I owned 30 acres of green houses and had over 100 employees. All of the acreage was ocean view property in North San Diego County. South America took away the flower industry, but my land had become very valuable. None of my children went into the business, so my green house properties have provided a very nice retirement.

I have three children; Christopher, Carolyn and Mandy and one granddaughter. My wife passed away in 1998 from melanoma. I met Andra Moran a year later and we have been together since.

I got to do a lot of traveling and enjoyed serving on boards for our local Y, the Botanic Gardens, Boys and Girls Club and some local conservancies. At one point I was very involved with the local chapter of the Nature Conservancy too. But in July, 2008 I suffered brain injury due to a fall when I lost consciousness (unknown reason). I have been in recovery for the last three years and Andra and my daughter Mandy have been by my side and involved in my care.