On a frosty evening— February 1, 1916— an Italian immigrant farmer by the name of Ralph Filice harnessed his horse and buggy and rode five miles from Paradise Valley into Morgan Hill to fetch the area’ s only doctor. Ralph’ s wife Raffaella was in labor with their third child. The baby was not due for another seven weeks, so Ralph was worried.

Dr. Newbold rushed to Raffaella’ s side while her husband paced the floor. At 8:03 pm, Ralph heared the lusty cry of his new son, William Francis Filice.

When William was three years old, Ralph and his brothers went looking for new a business and found a small patch of land filled with oak trees in Morgan Hill. They cleared the trees sold the wood to neighboring farmers and used the money they made to plant a vineyard— the Filice Brothers Winery. When prohibition came along in the 1920s, however, they were forced to sell their property.

By the time William was six years old, the Filice family had settled in Gilroy. He, and his brother Ernest and sister, Marian attended school five miles away. They had not yet learned the English language.

Ralph had begun to farm prunes from their orchard in Gilroy and things were looking up for the Filice Family. Unfortunately, things weren’ t so healthy for William( nicknamed Bill) when he contracted a baffling and serious disease( known today as Osteomyelitis) at 10 years old. He underwent a series of painful and often experimental treatments. It took twenty years of battling the disease before Bill would be considered well. At age 30, he purchased his first car, a 98 Oldsmobile and started his career.

While working as a distributor for General Petroleum( which later became Mobile Oil), Bill meet Ellen Florence Sullivan, an editor for the Gilroy Dispatch. It was love at first sight and the two were married on February 20, 1954. Within five years, Bill and Ellen had two children, Kathleen and Patrick. They purchased a new home; the same home that Bill lives in today.

Bill’ s second career was in real estate. As a broker, he joined Guido Sargenti and started Filice Real Estate. He joined the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce in 1948; thus beginning his long history of community involvement. He served as its president in 1967. He joined the Gilroy Rotary Club in 1959 and has been a member for 56 years.

Bill is also a long-standing member of the Gilroy Elks brotherhood, which includes a seven-year term as treasurer. He has always maintained an interest and a willingness to help Gilroy’ s young and upcoming men and women in business. Even after the loss of his beloved wife, Ellen in 1995, Bill stayed active in the community until he retired at the age of 90.

Bill celebrated his 100th birthday on Monday, February 1, 2016 at the Gilroy Lodge on the Hill, surrounded by the“ who’ s who” in Gilroy … old friends and his loving family. The party was hosted by his long-time friend, Don and Karen Christopher and the Filice Family.

For those whose lives he has touched and those who love him, Bill( endearingly called Uncle Bill) is truly a Gilroy treasure.

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