AEDC engineer, amateur 'beeologist' shares his passion for the outdoors

  • Published
  • By Philip Lorenz III
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  Although born in Chattanooga, Bill Myers grew up in a rural part of Knox County - an experience that instilled what he refers to as "an agricultural bent" into his life. 

"My father tells the story that before I was even five, I would go to the neighbor's chicken house and steal eggs," recalled Myers, an electrical engineer who has worked for the support contractor at AEDC for 30 years. "So he decided to buy some chickens for us and while they were on the nest, I would go there and pet them while they were laying the eggs. So, I had chickens in 4H and enjoyed those, too." 

Myers said he had always enjoyed being outdoors and also joined the Boy Scouts, but before long the troop disbanded and soon other priorities took precedence. 

By the time he was in high school, Myers had started thinking about his future - what he would pursue for a career. 

"I enjoyed math and science, and I said, 'that sounds like engineering to me,'" he recalled. "At that time I thought the nuclear engineering (field) would do much better and I said, 'that looks like a good field.' 

"So, I started out in nuclear engineering, but during my first semester of junior year, the dean of the college looked around and said, 'there's way too many people in this class for the job demands that exist. By the end of the year, half of you will be gone.'" 

Myers said he took that as a clue to pursue a different path. 

"I had taken some electrical (engineering) courses and I liked that area," he said. "Since I was headed in that direction, I made the change." 

After graduating from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Myers went to work with Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) for a few years. The Vietnam War interrupted his career and Myers spent two years in the Army, helping to collect and analyze airdrop data from accelerometers and other sensors attached to parachute lines supporting loads dropped from planes.

After his honorable discharge from the Army, Myers returned to TVA where he worked on substation designs. Myers met his wife, Bobbie, in college, and now that they had resumed life in the civilian sector after Bill's stint in the military, the couple began a family.

Myers said his wife wanted to raise their children in more of a rural setting and advocated moving to middle Tennessee where she already had family ties. 

Myers began working at AEDC in 1978 as his young family settled into their new home in Hillsboro. Back in a rural environment, he started a new hobby that spring. While still working for TVA, a co-worker had shown Myers his beehive. 

"One of the technicians who was checking out a transformer, said he was just getting into it and was all fired up about it," Myers said. "I thought that's something I can do." 

He bought his first hive from Sears and Roebuck and still enjoys raising bees and the honey they produce. By 1987, Myers found another way to enjoy the outdoors by helping with a local Boy Scout troop. 

"Bill got involved with Boy Scout Troop 332 in Hillsboro, Tenn., when his son Bryan started scouting and has stayed on as an adult leader even though Bryan left for college several years ago and is now practicing medicine in Winchester, Tullahoma and Manchester," said Darrol Payne, a coworker who has taken over the reins of the troop. "Bill serves as the charter representative and unit commissioner for the troop. 

He is still very active with outings, including camping and backpacking trips. 

"This past summer, 10 of us traveled to Cimarron, N.M., where Philmont Scout Ranch is located and experienced a 12-day backpacking trek that included a lot of activities such as black powder shooting, 30-06 reloading and shooting and rock climbing. 

"Bill is a great asset to scouting as he has many years of valuable experience. He is regularly challenging us to do more stuff and to try new things that we have never done before." 

Myers has also given classes in what he calls "beeology" to scouts and school groups. 

"Mr. Myers has been instrumental in providing our school with his beekeeping expertise by providing high interest programs that include live props," said Teresa Reynolds, a teacher at Hillsboro Elementary School in Coffee County. "He has spent most of the day at our school educating our entire student body regarding various topics on bees at our annual 'Homecoming' celebration. "He is one of several demonstrators who attended that event. Classes rotated and were allowed as much time as necessary to become acquainted with the beekeeping process, life cycles, and routines of worker bees and queen bees. Mr. Myers provided samples of honey on toast for students to taste. The students were so interested in the bees that we read books from our school library on the subject." 

Myers enjoys his work at AEDC, especially the relationships he's formed with coworkers. 

However, he said the best times are spent with his wife in their garden, growing sweet potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce and other vegetables.