Bill Nunes

Bill Nunes was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, on September 1, 1939 - the day World War II began in Europe when Hitler invaded Poland. I graduated from East Side High in 1957 by sufficiently fooling enough teachers as to my academic abilities. I attended Anderson College and Belleville Jr. College and married Lorna Sanders, of Collinsville, after we completed our sophomore years. We both finished our education,earning teaching degrees at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.

I taught one year at Bayless High in south St. Louis and then switched to Collinsville High as a social studies teacher. I received their Teacher of the Year award in 1970. I then moved on to Edwardsville High as an administrator. After four years I chose to return to teaching and serve as Department Head. I retired after putting in 30 years of "blood, sweat and tears" and started receiving my rocking chair money. I am listed in Who's Who both as a teacher and an administrator.

When I retired, having nothing better to do, I wrote my biography - Coming of Age in 1940s and '50s East St. Louis. I turned down SIU's offer to publish the book with their politically correct changes and 10 percent of profits. I self-published the book at a cost of $16,000. The St. Louis distributor refused to carry the book so I printed my own contracts and sold the book at car washes, Hallmark stores, card shops and small bookstores. Sales took off and a month later the distributor called back and said they would eat crow and carry the book. That volume eventually sold 4,200 copies.

I wrote five more books about East St. Louis and then wrote Southern Illinois: An Illustrated History which sold 10,000 copies. Doing a book a year, I then wrote Incredible Illinois, Illinois Crime, Illinois Trivia, Illinois in the Roaring 20s, Illinois in World War II and The Big Book of St. Louis Nostalgia. In September of 2009, I will release The Big Book of St. Louis and Southern Illinois Crime. Collectively, my books have sold 50,000 copies.

As a youth I loved to play corkball, tennis and basketball. I was a bust at marbles and mumblety peg. I have long been a movie buff and a fan of 50s music. I have a keen interest in trivia and twice passed the Jeopardy qualifying test but was never called as a contestant. I did not know at the time that they do not allow crusty old people on their program. I am still considering an age discrimination suit against them. In September, I will be hosting a monthly trivia show on the Belleville station KZQZ - 1430 a.m.

I have also written three novels - Illinoistown, Mike Kriegan and the Capone Wars and Southern Illinois Eagles in the Battle of Britain. The later will be in the back of the 2009 crime book.

I live in Glen Carbon, Illinois, and have a son and a daughter and two beautiful grandchildren.

Feel free to discuss history, nostalgia or my novels at bnunesbook@aol.com or call me at 618-288-5185.

Herbert William (Bill) Nunes