[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 72 (Thursday, May 20, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5945-S5946]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        THE LIFE OF AN AWARD-WINNING COLUMNIST, REPORTER, AUTHOR

 Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I honor the life of an award-winning 
columnist, reporter and author. My friend, Bill Fiset, lived a long, 
distinguished life of 73 years, serving his country in World War II. In 
addition to his honorable career, he was a devoted husband, father, and 
grandfather.
  Bill Fiset was born March 15, 1921 in Seattle, WA and attended Queen 
Anne High School and the University of Washington, where he was a 
member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity and a member of the golf 
team. At 21, he was a reporter and wrote a column called ``Strolling 
Around the Town'' for the Seattle Times.
  At 22, Fiset saw foreign service in Africa as an ambulance driver in 
the American Field Service, an organization giving medical aid to the 
Allies before the U.S. entered the war. He resigned the Field Service 
in Egypt in April 1942, and enlisted with the Royal Armored Service 
Corps. As a second lieutenant in the British 8th Army in North Africa, 
he served as a machine gunner on an armored lorry defending convoys 
from Italian bombers between Tobruk and Suez. Fiset also filed field 
reports as a war correspondent.
  Then America entered WWII. With refugees flooding African transports, 
Fiset luckily used his recent gunnery experience to sign on with an 
American freighter as a member of the gun crew, reaching the U.S. 3 
months later.
  In October, 1942, he joined the Navy. He did his preflight training 
at St. Mary's College in Moraga, CA, and served as a blimp pilot in 
Airship Squadron 32 on a coastal submarine patrol stationed out of 
Moffet Field, California.
  After the war, Fiset worked as a reporter for the Oakland Post 
Enquirer from 1946 to 1950 and joined the San Francisco Call Bulletin 
as a staff reporter from 1950 to 1952.
  Fiset then wrote for the Oakland Tribune from March 1952 to 1955 as a 
general assignment reporter covering such infamous murder and kidnap 
trials as Burton Abbott, Carl Chessman; and Barbara Graham, Jack Santo 
and Emmett Perkins of the so-called Mountain Murder Mob. He also 
witnessed and reported on their executions at San Quentin Prison.
  In 1956 he wrote the Tribune's first television column where he 
became internationally syndicated and was invited to do walk-on acting 
parts in ``Route 66'' and ``Tales of Wells Fargo.'' He began a general 
column for the Tribune in 1962. That same year, he was nominated for a 
Pulitzer Prize and won many awards for his writing. His award-winning 
public service booklets ``This Is Sherry'' and ``Want To Be Smart,'' 
written by Fiset and illustrated by artist Ray Marta were discreetly 
designed to warn children and parents about the dangers of kidnapping 
and child sex offenders. Over a million copies were distributed free 
worldwide and locally by the Tribune, the Bay Area Board of Education, 
and local police departments. The efforts earned a commendation by FBI 
Director J. Edgar Hoover as, ``a graphic message which may mean the 
difference between life and death for countless

[[Page S5946]]

youngsters,'' and was requested by police departments throughout the 
United States, Canada, and Europe.
  From time to time Fiset continued to file news reports. He wrote 
about the airlift of Vietnamese-American children out of Vietnam by Ed 
Daly, a friend and the flamboyant owner of World Airways. In 1973, 
Fiset was one of the first to file an eyewitness report on the crash of 
the Soviet SST TU-144 crash at the Paris Air Show.
  An avid golfer, Fiset participated in many civic groups and fund 
raisers. He taught news writing and reporting at the College of Alameda 
and for many years was a board member for JACKIE, an agency that finds 
foster homes for children.
  He was married for almost 60 years and is survived by his wife, 
Marian Fiset of Walnut Creek, his sons Rick Fiset of Danville, Gary 
Fiset of Alamo, daughter Michele Fiset Rice of Bryn Mawr, PA, and his 
eight grandchildren. Bill Fiset died peacefully on Sunday, May 2, in 
Concord, CA.

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