Although he was born in Schenectady, New York in 1923 and spent his ninth-grade year in Evanston, Illinois, William Edward Glynn was essentially a New Englander, both before he entered the Academy in 1942 and throughout his life after he resigned from the Army in 1950 to go to law school. At Evanston High, Classical High in Springfield, Massachusetts, Hebron Academy (Maine), and Phillips Exeter Academy (New Hampshire), Bill was an outstanding swimmer, who, incidentally, won letters in crew, track (javelin), and even football. Among his favorite pre-West Point nonathletic interests were glee club singing and debating.
It was during the summers of Bill’s secondary school years, which he spent at Rhode Island’s Misquamicut Beach and at New Hampshire’s Hampton Beach, that there developed his lifelong love of surf swimming and, no doubt, the powerful chest and shoulders that were later to be prominent at West Point both on the Plain and in the pool.
Throughout his three years at West Point, Glynn was the best swimmer on the Academy team. In his last year he made All-America and as captain led the team through an undefeated season, set an Academy record in the 440, and anchored the freestyle relay which set the Academy record against both Yale and Navy. LIFE magazine covered the Yale meet, which some observers more than 40 years later remember as the most exciting athletic event of their lives. Army won when Glynn held off Yale’s world record holder Alan Ford in the last leg of the freestyle relay.
During his first class year Glynn was appointed a cadet lieutenant, obviously in recognition of his inherent qualities of leadership, and not as a reward for constant knocking-in of plebe knobs. His F-2 classmates elected him as their representative on the Corps Honor Committee, a tribute to the high standards of morality and honor which were evidenced throughout his life.
When the Class of 1945 tossed their white caps in the air, World War II was nearly over. As a young Signal Corps officer Bill served for two years in the 25th Division in the Army of Occupation in Japan, then with Third Army Headquarters at Fort Meade, and finally on ROTC duty at Norwich Academy in Vermont. In 1947 and 1948 he coached and swam on Army swimming teams in Tokyo and at Schofield Barracks - temporary duty which he welcomed as a break from the routine of occupation duties and as a chance to be teammates again with friends from Academy days. (Bill never lost his interest in competitive swimming. He greatly enjoyed participating in several meets between the West Point alumni and the women’s varsity when he was over 55. In the first of them the same four members of the relay team that had beaten Yale in 1945 edged the cadets.)
After Harvard Law School (1950-53), Glynn joined the Hartford, Connecticut firm of Day, Berry, & Howard, then a distinguished, modest-sized, local firm, which during the 31 years that Bill was with it - and in no small part because of him - became a distinguished, large, regional firm. At Day, Berry he was for many years a litigation partner. A successful trial lawyer should have a logical mind, the ability to think clearly and express himself well on his feet, and the willingness to work hard and long when necessary. He should like people, and people should like him. If he is to be responsible for “big” cases, as Glynn frequently was, he should be good at delegating. Glynn had all of these qualities. Judges and juries trusted him as a fair-minded advocate. His reputation as a first-class litigator was region-wide.
Bill’s contribution to his law firm was not confined to his litigation expertise. One of his partners has written that he “contributed significantly to the policy and character of the firm. He spoke frequently at firm meetings and consistently advocated policies whose provisions would be fair to everyone. He likewise spoke against positions which would have benefits enure to a few. He argued persuasively many times that the firm should be prepared to bend in its position in order to achieve a greater fairness.”
A conservative Democrat in politics, Glynn served two two-year terms as the nonpartisan mayor of Hartford, withdrawing from active political life in 1965 to devote more time to his family and legal career. He was a well-respected political leader, who was widely appreciated as “sincere, hardworking, and honest,” in the words of a Hartford Courant editorial aptly entitled “A Gentleman in Politics.”
Glynn felt, and acted on, a strong commitment to civic duty. In addition to his service as mayor, Bill was chairman of the board of the Hartford Public Library and a member of the Hartford Housing Authority. For the last 15 years of his life he was a leading member of the distribution committee of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, one of the largest public trusts of its kind in the country. For four of those years he was its chairman. After his death the distribution committee and staff of the foundation placed an ad in the Hartford papers headed “Thank you, Bill Glynn,” in which they said, in part:
“Your years with the Foundation have been an exemplary record of public service…You attended 195 regular meetings of this body, at which some $34,207,157 was voted in grants. To each of these meetings you brought a commitment, a positive spirit, a dedication to pluralism, a warm smile and a sense of humor which have won the respect and admiration of all privileged to serve with you…
“And you have been a source of inspiration to all of us who have witnessed the extraordinary courage and optimism with which you have battled physical adversity in recent years, without ever missing a meeting.”
During the 13-year battle that Glynn waged with a rare form of cancer, he drew strength from his devout faith. For his contributions to church activities Bill was recognized by Pope John Paul II as a Knight of St. Gregory.
In 1957 Bill married Jacquelyn, a widow with a 4 1/2 year old son, whom Bill adopted. He and Jacque had four more children, thus achieving his Howitzer “goal” of “a family of five.” (One was born at West Point, an hour or so after Jacque and Bill left a Class of ‘45 15th reunion party at Stewart Field.) Jacque and Bill’s mother, Marie Glynn of Springfield, both of whom survive, were probably the persons who most influenced Bill in his life and who, along with his children and his younger brother Ger, were the persons closest to him. One cannot imagine a more loving son or husband. When the damnable cancer made its sixth or seventh appearance, a friend complained of the unfairness of it. Bill replied that, on the contrary, when he considered the troubles and unhappiness that so many others had had and how happy he had been with his wife and children, he felt that he was a lucky man.
More than 500 colleagues, associates, and friends attended the funeral mass held for Hartford’s popular former mayor at the Cathedral of St. Joseph. At Jacque’s request a tenor sang the first and third stanzas of our Alma Mater. Hartford police in cruisers and on motorcycles escorted a long motorcade to Mt. St. Benedict Cemetery where Bill is buried.
Words most frequently appearing in the tributes that came to Jacque after Bill’s death included these: big, strong, friendly, calm, mature, sympathetic, role model, inspiration, loved, admired, great friend, serene, smiling, outgoing, modest, generous, unassuming, and even in the last stages of his illness, cheerful, humorous, with grace under pressure. To these should be added, emphatically, loyal. Gregarious Bill Glynn made new friends easily throughout his life; but, happily for those who were especially close to him from cadet days, his old friendships never had to shrink to make room for newer ones. When Bill was near the end, his strong, clear trial lawyer’s voice had become a labored whisper. He thanked a friend for coming from some distance to visit him at the hospital. “Why, Bill,” said the friend, “you would have done the same for me.” “That’s right!” said Bill; and, of course, it was true.
One person spoke for all of us who knew Bill Glynn well when he wrote to Jacque that Bill was “the kind of person who is so rare that the rest of us are lucky if we know only one or two in a lifetime.”
JKE, a classmate.