William Allsbrook

William "Bill" Erwin Allsbrook, lll was born in Charleston, South Carolina on January 31, 1958. He lived with his family; dad William "Billy" Erwin Sr., his mom Carol Blair Allsbrook, and his siblings, only one of whom was older, his sister Linda Allsbrook. Bill's younger brothers were Andy, James, Chris, Tracy, and Robert. According to his brother James Allsbrook, his earliest memories were living in a trailer park, then a two-story farmhouse, then finally moving to the Jim Walter home his grandparents built when they were able to purchase their own little piece of Heaven - a few acres of land just outside a little town called Moncks Corner, South Carolina. Bill was known as "Billy", same as his father, and went by many nicknames during his life including "Wild Bill", "Taco Bill", and "Daddyobill". Jim remembers, "We never had a lot, but we had what we needed. Life was strict. You don't dwell too much about day to day happenings, because it's all part of life. I remember Billy as a "protector" [of those who needed protecting]. While I was in 1st grade, some bigger boy was hitting me and Billy found out. Billy put a stop to it and he told the boy, "If anyone is going to hit my brother, it will be me." But Jim says he and Billy never fought. Jim says, "Billy was in Boy Scouts, played football, knew everybody and everybody knew him. He had a reputation such that he didn't take crap from anyone, and he backed up that reputation with a hard fist. He was jovial, I don't think he ever met a stranger. He had the personality I wished to be like. He worked for our uncle doing high-pressure cleaning until he was injured the summer after his 17th birthday in a motorcycle accident and spent the entire summer in traction. His body was never quite the same." He married his high-school sweetheart Jenny, and they had a son named Josh. That marriage was short-lived, but Billy found love again when he married Pam Johnson a few years later, and they had a child, Kristine Blair Allsbrook. During a marital separation, Pam tragically died in a car accident, and Bill was devastated, so he poured himself into his work. His brother says he basically disappeared, moving to Florida to work a job, then moving to Georgia for another job, and finally ending up in Louisiana where he met his current wife Audrey while working on an offshore oil rig. He was a contract welder on the rig, and Audrey was the Rig Clerk/Radio Operator. Bill loved Audrey and vowed to always be a good husband and father after Audrey became pregnant with Rachel Hannah Allsbrook a few months later. Bill no longer wished to work unstable contract work, so landed a position working 14 on and 14 off on a deep-water Floater in the Gulf of Mexico working for a company called Transocean. After just a few months on the job, someone approached him from another drilling company called Seadrill and offered him a job as a rig welder with the possibility of moving up the ladder. Bill gladly took the challenge and worked his way from Rig Welder to Senior Hydraulics Technician in just a few short years. In 2006, Bill moved to Safford, Arizona to meet Audrey and Rachel who had gone before to care for Audrey's dying mother, they bought a house and lived in Safford until 2013 when Bill decided he would like to move back to the Carolinas to be nearer his family again, so having the means to do so they bought a home in Hickory, North Carolina. Bill was very close with his brother James and the two rode motorcycles, he also was able to renew relationships with his son Josh and his daughter Kristine and their families. There were some good times in North Carolina. In 2015 oil prices dropped and Bill was deemed "redundant" during a rig move from South Africa to Brazil when the company he was working for lost their contract. Suddenly, his offshore career came to a screeching halt. Instead of sitting around and feeling sorry for himself, Bill immediately began training for a new career. He withdrew some retirement money and started studying on his own to become an American Welding Society Credentialed Certified Welding Inspector. Bill quickly found out that due to his vast experience in fabrication and repair of all things metal, inspecting welds came naturally for him. He took great pride in all he accomplished, and within six months of setting his goal, he was offered his first job as a Certified Welding Inspector. He then studied to add several additional inspection certifications such as performing Bolted inspections, Concrete inspections, and Non-destructive Testing methods. When his offshore career abruptly ended, Bill was very worried about not being able to care for his family the same way, but though having him with us was all that really mattered to us, he felt inadequate after that. We ended up selling our house in North Carolina and moving back to Arizona. Bill continued to earn inspection credentials on his own. He finally landed a job with Freeport McMoran, and in his usual fashion, worked his way up from Lead Welder in the Mill shop to Technical Trainer in the Training Department in Clifton, Arizona and had higher aspirations than that, but had hit a roadblock which distressed him in a major way. Bill loved teaching. He loved to see the "light come on" as his young students started to be able to do math problems and learn to weld things together properly. He cared for people more than anyone I have ever known. There is not one person who knew Bill who did not benefit in some way by his influence, as long as they didn't get on his bad side or hurt anyone he cared about. Bill is survived by his son Josh Goodwin, (Tara Goodwin) and his three grand-daughters; Taylor, Mikayla, and Logan, his daughter Kristine Marie Plitsch Linder (Joe Linder), his sister Linda, brothers; James (Joyce) and Robert (Lisa) Allsbrook, all of South Carolina; his daughter Rachel Hannah Allsbrook and his wife Audrey Allsbrook from Safford, Arizona, along with numerous nieces, nephews, and their families in both South Carolina and Arizona. Rest in Peace, My Love, My "Wild Bill." - Lovingly written by Audrey Allsbrook A memorial service will be held on Saturday, May 16, 2020, beginning at 10:00 a.m. at the New Life City Church with Dr. Phil Tutor officiating.