An Extraordinary Life: Joliet airplane pilot was happiest in the skies

JOLIET – It was the 1960s and Willis “Bill” Schubert, a commercial airplane pilot, was about to take off when a hijacker came aboard.

But Bill simply backed up to the gate and officials boarded to arrest the man, said his daughter, Sharon Perinar of Minooka. On another occasion, Bill popped a Siamese kitten he found in Minnesota into his briefcase and let out “the screaming little creature” inside the cockpit.

“He always loved Siamese cats,” Sharon said. “To this day, I have two staring at me.”

Bill, of Joliet, started his aviation career as a bomber pilot in World War II and attained the rank of lieutenant colonel. Later, Bill served in the U.S. Air Force Reserves and then worked as a commercial pilot before starting a charter service teaching aviation in Joliet and Bolingbrook.

Through the years, Bill had many flying adventures. He flew U.S. diplomats out of Cuba when Fidel Castro assumed power and one of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s daughters to diplomat dinners, Sharon said.

“When he’d come home, Mom would have an egg sandwich for him, and he’d report on his flight,” Sharon said.

When Bill was in the reserves, his late wife, Wanda, often traveled with him, Sharon said. Bill met her when he was stationed in Oklahoma and Wanda, who was from Arkansas, was visiting the state to care for a sick aunt.

“He saw her in a restaurant and said, ‘That’s the girl I’m going to marry,’ and they got married two months later,” Sharon said. “They were married 70 years.”

Sharon said she was born the following year and stayed with her grandmother when her parents traveled. But when her brother, William, was born eight years later, Sharon said Bill stepped away from the Air Force, as her brother had special needs.

“He actually tried selling cars for couple of months,” Sharon said, “and then he went into the airlines.”

Through the years, Bill worked for North Central Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Republic Airlines and Delta Air Lines, from which Bill retired at the age of 60, which Sharon said was the mandatory retirement age at the time.

Sharon said she and Wanda flew to Houston with Bill. When the plane landed, it was announced to passengers that their pilot had just completed his last flight, Sharon said. Bill then was brought out for an introduction and a few cheers.

But Bill, “a tough, stoic German,” just stood there, not knowing what to say, Sharon said.

“He had a little smile on his face,” she said. “He appreciated it, and we appreciated it.”

Bill woodworked for a few months in his basement workshop and then began his charter service, which he ran for 10 years until ill health intervened. But Bill, often seen with a pipe in his mouth, had other interests to occupy him.

He loved gardening, as well as collecting and researching the history of antique guns, especially those from the Civil War period, Sharon said. Several magazines published accounts Bill wrote regarding that research, she said.

Toward the end of Bill’s life – he was 93 when he died Aug. 2 – Bill enjoyed sitting among his beloved oaks, watching the birds and feeding the raccoon that lived under his deck. It was a perfect life.

“He had his Siamese cats he loved,” Sharon said. “And Mom.”

• To feature someone in “An Extraordinary Life,” contact Denise M. Baran-Unland at 815-280-4122 or dunland@shawmedia.com.