It is with a very heavy heart and not a small amount of tears in my eyes that I bring you this installment of the Angry Brothers Omaha Shock O Rama Blog. On Thursday July 21 2016 William Cardille aka "Chilly Billy" passed away from liver cancer which he was diagnosed with shortly after his retirement in 2015. His daughter Lorie Cardille who you all would know from her starring role in the 1985 George A Romero film Day of the Dead. She Posted on social media of Chilly Billy's cancer diagnoses and rallied his fans, friends, family and the legion of horror hosts both active and inactive to spread word of his situation and to encourage their fans and friends to send cards letters photos whatever to show their support of Chilly at this obviously trying time . Bill Was swamped with bags of mail from supporters and well wishers. Chilly was supposed to attend a con in the local area on a past weekend but his condition prevented that from happening. Bill was hospitalized but able to ride out the illness. Then on Tuesday the 19th it was announced that bill would be coming home to be among his family. on this past Thursday Lori posted the news on social media that Chilly Billy had passed away. Having lost people that we are close to or admire you have that period of mental numbness comes you might feel your moving thru a fog, although I had never met Chilly Billy in person I was aware of him and his career thru my interactions with other horror hosts and research when becoming Brother Jack. To Say that Bill Cardille was beloved by his legions of fans in the Pittsburgh Pa would be a monumental understatement.
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| Chilly Billy, Lori Cardille and George A Romero courtesy or triblive.com |
Rather Than list all of Chilly Billys accomplishments and they were legion I am reminded of a line from the Tom Cruise film The Last Samurai where Katsumoto (ken watanabe) says to Nathan Algren "You could spend your whole life looking for the perfect cherry blossom and it would be a wasted life". I look at everything Chilly Billy did over the course of his life as cherry blossoms being a father, husband, horror host, broadcaster etc and to be beloved by his fans then truly all of the cherry blossoms of his life were perfect and his life was by no strech of the imagination wasted. On a more whimsical note it brings a smile to my face to think that Chilly Billy Right now is sitting at a table at the big horror convention in the sky signing autographs for people like Vincent Price, Leonard Nimoy, Peter Cushing, Christoper Lee and Vampira. Rather Than our Traditonal ending. I will Just end this update with Godspeed Chilly Billy you will be missed .
