By Chris Mayhew
Enquirer staff writer

CRESCENT SPRINGS - For a man who built his own home, hardware fit William L. "Bill" Wilson's personality, said his wife for 47 years Rose M. Klatte Wilson.

The owner and operator of Crescent Springs Hardware on Anderson Road for 32 years, along with his wife, died Tuesday at his Crescent Springs home. He was 67.

His first career was as a linotype machinist for the Cincinnati Times-Star, and later for The Cincinnati Post in the 1950s and '60s.

In the late 1960s, when advances in the newspaper industry forced Wilson to take computer classes for his job, he decided to do something else, his wife said.

In 1972, the hardware store only a few blocks from the Wilson's home was up for sale, and they were suddenly the owners of a family business, his wife said.

Like other hardware store owners, he almost always knew how to help the customers find what they needed, his wife said.

"Bill has always been a handyman," she said. "He built our home. Hardware fit his personality, so to speak."

The store grew every year, and there have been two major building additions, his wife said.

"He was a really strong person," she said. "Whatever he pursued ended up being successful."

Now it's something more than a hardware store, his wife said.

"We're going to keep the store going, it's just how he would have wanted it," she said.

He was an active member of the Crescent Springs community who was a volunteer firefighter since the 1950s, and spent a brief time as a police officer for the city in the 1950s. Until his health started failing in recent years, Mr. Wilson and his wife danced with square dancing clubs that were "too numerous to count," his wife said.

He collected stamps, coins, knives, guns and antique car paraphernalia, and was a member of St. Joseph Church in Crescent Springs.

"He could never sit still for a moment," his wife said.

Other survivors include two sons, Mark of Crescent Springs, and Michael "Bubba" Wilson of Piner; four daughters, Ginny Hall of Taylor Mill, Connie Moss of Erlanger, Pam Holstein of Union, and Cathy Croley of Crescent Springs; a brother, Robert L. Wilson of Crescent Springs; and 14 grandchildren.

Services have been held. His remains were cremated. Linnemann Funeral Home in Erlanger handled arrangements.

Memorials: American Heart Association, 333 Guthrie St., Suite 207, Louisville, KY 40202; or American Diabetes Association, P.O. Box 2680, North Canton, OH 44720.

E-mail cmayhew@enquirer.com