Bill Krejci:
CLASS OF 1977
Troy High SchoolClass of 1977
Troy, MT
Bill's Story
Where do I begin? At the beginning? Naah! I always was a bit unconventional which, you may or may not remember. Now, how do you begin at the end? How do you start? Like; 'It all ended when...?" Hold on a minute... How do you start at the end when the end hasn't been reached yet? Ah well, that too will come in due time. So, here we go. I'll back up 12 years to the fall of 2001 when I involved myself in a motorcycle crash. I had been drinking and the first sign that I should not have been riding was when I almost dropped my bike right there in the parking lot of a tavern up in Yaak Montana. For those interested, I was riding a 2000 Yamaha V-Star. Nice looking bike. A little weak on power but I didn't care. I had the look. That's important, right? I mean, half of what we do is just for show, rifght? Sometimes. Anyway. There I was in the parking lot of some beer joint up in the wilds of Western Montana, struggling to right my bike and all I was concerned about was the fact that if I dropped it, it was going to get a dent! I got on and proceeded to head home. It was nearly dark and I noticed my headlight beam was shining in the tops of the trees. Instead of pulling over and adjusting it, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and nearly killed myself in the process! As I was adjusting the light, I took my eyes off the road for just a second but that was all that was necessary to distract me from the fact that I was nearing one of the sharpest corners in the road. I had two choices but at the time, I only felt I had one and that was to TRY and make the turn. That was all I remembered at the time. I woke up face down in t he gravel, 150 feet off the road with the V-Star, which by the way, only got one tiny dent, was on top of me. Long story short, I "died" 3 times during the MedStar flight to the hospital. Flatlined. That is where your heart has stopped and they have to use the paddles to get it going again. I had a punctured lung, broken ribs, a concussion, severe cuts on my head (no helmet) and that wasn't all. There IS a fate worse than death, I am lucky to be here to say. I had 3 vertibrae crushed in my spine and a brused spinal cord and that isn't the hard part. Fast forward to Monday morning, the 6th of May, 2013. I am writing to my classmates; to the world really, a cautionary and bittersweet tale. It is a clear day. My little dogs, Max and Rainey, or Mackey and Rae-Rae, as we like to call them, are sleeping in my lap. A lap that is always there for them whenever they need it. For you see, I write this tale...from a wheelchair and now, as Paul Harvey use to say; "you know the REST of the story.
Being paralyzed actually has it's perks. I'm serious! Looking back, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. How, you say? I have learned to make the BEST of any situation and I didn't get there entirely by myself. I had help and some of you will believe this and some will snicker. That has happened since Christianity came into existance. Yes, I will say it proudly, I am a Christian. Actually, I was suppose to be a Christian when I wrecked. What was I doing drinking then, you ask? Simple, I wasn't LIVING it! There is a difference. I knew I should have been living it but sadly, I was a hypocrite. I couldn't see past the person in the mirror! Needless to say, in this experience I can tell you today that God has NEVER left me! I know there is a God in fact, one night as I was laying there in that St. Luke's Rehabilitation Center bed as I struggled to survive, I heard a nearly audible voice say to me, "I will NEVER leave you or forsake you!" Those very words are what carried me through the depths of despair and hopelessness that I was experiencing and I have since learned that to live the dying life of a Christian means to LIVE for others. I have not felt so much peace and fulfillment since that night in St. Luke's. That is the first "perk" the next is; instead of the drudgery of walking, I get to roll! Most of the time, it is much easier and can be a lot of fun! Places like WalMart and Home Depot become your playground! Cement floors are the best! You can really get moving. The other "perk" is; I get all the time in the world to do what I want. Now, don't get me wrong here, I would get a normal job if I could! I am not here to just "suck on the Government teat." I tried the 9 to 5 and discovered it was too much for me to deal with the constant pain that I have which literally knocks me flat for days sometimes. I have to take so much pain medication that operating machinery becomes risky. I like to think of it as the "early retirement program." So, I stay home. I have a small hobby shop where I enjoy restoring antique Tonka and other brands of metal toys of the '40's, '50's and '60's. I also have built my own hot rod. It is a 1923 Ford Model T roadster. It is not original. I started by building my own frame and I was going to buy a fiberglass body but ended up finding an all steel one. It has a 302 engine from a '68 Galaxie. The rear end is from a 1948 Ford F1 pickup. The radiator is from a 1947 Willy's Jeep. The front grille is from a 1929 Model A Ford. I used the back part of a 1927 Model T and welded it to the ...Expand for more
1923 Model T cowl. I have used parts from a BMW, Cadillac, Corvette, Thunderbird and Volkswagen. You get the picture. It has hand-cntrols only. My next step for it is to build a trailer to haul my chair in. Those are my passions.
Rewind to 1977. After running arouned Washington and Oregon the summer of 1977, the year I graduated, I took a job at the Frank E. Lenhart Chrysler garage and Chevron gas station in Bonners Ferry, Idaho that is.. I pumped gas and kept the place clean for $2.25 an hour. Frank was an unholy terror to work for! Mere seconds before the station bell would ring, Frank enjoyed pounding on the window between the station and the grease bay with his arthritic hand and yell, "BILL, YOU GOT A CAR OUT THERE!" as if I were deaf and blind. Thinking back though, Frank was probably one of the best bosses I ever worked for. Dad said I wouldn't last two weeks there. I lasted 2 years! Then in June of 1979, I joined Uncle Sam's Finest Navy. I grew tired of the "go nowhere" job on main street in Bonners. Someone suggested I join the service, see the world, learn a trade! So, I went to see the Air Force recruiter and luckily for me he wasn't in that day. So, I went across the hall, past the Marine and Army recruiters who stared at me hungrily, and entered the Navy recruiters office. He shook my hand, had me take a test, I signed some papers and off I went to San Diego! I have said before that I make the best of any situation and that is where I adopted that mantra because that situation was BAD! I was not used to getting up any earlier than 7:00 a.m., when the cows needed milked. At precisely the unhallowed hour of 3:30 a.m., we were woke up each morning to the drill instructor's loudly eminated taunts! Needless to say, I built up my physical stamina and my ability to withstand verbal abuse.
From Bonners Ferry, Idaho to San Diego then on to a place called Rota in Spain, of all places, where I spent two weeks. Rota was as strange a place as any for a kid who never set foot outside the Pacific Northwest. That was where I saw the biggest cockroach I had ever seen in my life scurrying under the street light there one night. I basically stayed in a barracks and kept the place clean and the yard free of litter. I was waiting for my ship to come in. Literally! The USS Independence, CV-62. the CV stands for Carrier Vessel, An aircraft carrier with a crew of about 5,000 aboard. I endured life aboard the Indy for 2 years. It wasn't too bad actually. If you like being out at sea for 6 months at a time. The meals were good. Then it was off to Aviation Electronics AV-A School for one year and after that, another carrier. This one was the Coral Sea, CV-43 where I spent my final year in the Navy. I was honorably discharged on June of 1983 in Alameda, California. I decided to stay there for awhile since the economy back home was not very good. I took a job in construction for the J.L Johnston Construction Company. I got married on March of 1984 and started my own welding shop, "Irons in the Fire" n 1985, two things happened; we had our first son, Will and I landed one of my first big contracts was for Neil Young who I worked for steadily for 2 and a half years. When that contract ended couldn't get enough work to keep my little shop afloat so I closed that and went back to J.L. J. for work In the mean time, he had expanded and formed another branch called "San Francisco Eyes" which was an eyeglass frame display case manufacturing company. There I built and ran the assembly plant that manufactured computerized frame displays that held over 700 pairs of eyeglass frames for optometrists. I even took the machines to trade shows in Las Vegas and L.A. In 9988, our second son, James was born. Then in 1990 the company underwent some changes and I decided it was time for a change myself. I walked across the street and applied for the lead welder position in a shop called "Princeton Welding" where we did everything from repair welding and construction in the fishing industry. We were building a 75 foot steel fishing boat. It was in the spring of 1993 that I longed for home. I packed up all my welding equipment; 3,000 pounds of it, into my 17 foot boat, grabbed the wife and kids and headed for North Idaho. My brother, Mike and I started Krejci Brothers Welding in Moyie Springs which went for about 5 years. In 1998 we dissolved the partnership due to dispute issues and I went to work for a welding and machine shop in Bonners Ferry called RI-CO Inc.where I was the foreman and making $19.50 an hour. I workked there until the time of my accident in 2001,
Since that time I have been married to the same woman for 29 years, created 2 inventions for handicapped people, built my long dreamed of hot rod, and restored thousands of dollars worth of Tonka, Smith Miller, Wyandotte, and Structo toys of the '40's, '50's and '60's. Life is good! Life has been good to me. Sure it has it's ups and downs, failures and successes, and comedies and tragedies. It is a bittersweet tale that's told. Each has his own and one is just as interesting and unique as the next and I have found only one thing I am certain of; I could not live it without my dogs!
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