- In Memoriam -
Bill DeLay
(1929-2007)

William Raymond "Bill" DeLay, 77, died Feb. 14, 2007 at home surrounded by his daughters and sons-in-law.  He had been suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Bill and his brother Richard attended J.C. Nichols School and Bill attended Southwest High School, graduating in 1946.  Enrolling at the University of Kansas, he majored in Journalism, earning a bachelor of arts in 1950.  Right after graduation, Bill was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Fort Leonard Wood near St. Louis for training. While there he received the designation Private First Class. He served in the Counter Intelligence Corps, stationed near Linz, Austria, during the Korean War.  He returned to Kansas City and landed a job as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Times and Star, working the night desk. He met another young reporter, Mary Elinor Dolson, in an elevator at The Star. They were married in October 1954 at St. Augustine's Catholic Church. Bill and Elinor, and infant daughter Marty, moved to Evansville, Ind., in the spring of 1956, where Bill had been offered a job as a public relations executive for Mead Johnson Company. The family returned to Kansas City in the fall of 1960, when Bill accepted a position in the public relations and communications department of the American Academy of General Practice, later renamed the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Between 1960 and 1997 he received several accolades and awards, among them the PRSA Professional of the Year in 1982, and the PRSA PRISM Award in 1985. His outstanding work in the field of public relations and communications also earned the highest honor awarded by the PRSA - - the Silver Anvil Award, awarded to the top public relations professional in the United States, in 1979. Bill was inducted into the PRSA College of Fellows in 1991, the hallmark of achievement in his public relations career.

In the late 1960s, he was a consultant for the popular T.V. show, Marcus Welby M.D., which was sponsored by the American Academy of Family Physicians.  He taught adult education classes in public relations at Central Missouri State University, and served on the boards of the American Cancer Society, Kansas City Chapter, and the Midwest Ear Institute.  He and Elinor traveled a great deal, seeing Europe, Istanbul, and the Caribbean Islands, spending summers in Mexico immersing themselves in Hispanic culture and language, and visiting much of the U.S., sometimes taking one or both daughters or their grandchildren with them.  Bill and Elinor were active members of St. Elizabeth Church for many years, later moving to St. Thomas More Parish.  Bill was a lector and a member of the Serra Club.

Contributions may be made to the National Stroke Association
or Kansas City Hospice