The year was 1950. Lillian Malec of Hallettsville, Texas was in her junior year at The University of Texas in Austin, where she pursued her degree in Voice, with Piano as the minor study. Her degree also required the study of German, Italian and French languages as well as English Composition and writing. At the age of twenty-three, she decided to go up to New York City to continue her studies in Voice, in hopes that she could eventually join the Metropolitan Opera Company. But her father was not willing to give her the money for this; he wanted her to continue work in the family newspaper business. So she decided to make her own money for the trip.

Lillian's sister and brother-in-law, Leona and Major Taylor Biehunko, asked her to come for a visit to Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, where Taylor was stationed. They informed her that she could get a job at the Base, because it had become a Missle Test Center. Aircraft companies were arriving at the Base and were looking for secretaries. After coming there, she was hired as a secretary at Northrop Aircraft Company, and she eventually became the secretary to the head of the Personnel Department.

Then one day the Biehunkos introduced Lillian to Lieutenant William "Bill" Pearson, who had just arrived at the Base. She and Bill started dating, and 55 years of marriage later, they are now enjoying retirement at the Regency Villas.

But let's go back to learn about the history of this couple.

Bill Pearson was born in Ogden, Utah as the son of William B. and Ida May Pearson, and he had three older sisters. After some years the family moved to Los Angeles, California. Bill grew up and went to school with kids who had familiar names like Judy Garland, Mickey Roony and Ricardo Montelbon, who were destined to become movie stars in the coming years.

Sometime after graduating from high school, Bill joined the U.S.Army Air Corps in August, 1942. World War II was slowly coming to an end when he was sent overseas to Italy. As the pilot of a B-24 bomber airplane, he and his crew flew many missions behind enemy lines to drop supplies to the resistance forces, who were also fighting the enemies of the United States.

After the war ended, the Air Corp transferred Bill to Southern France, where he remained for six months before he was finally sent back to the U.S.A. He would serve in the Air Force for 22 1/2 years until he retired with the rank of Major in 1964. But he still remembers flying his favorite planes: the C-47, KB-29, and Lockheed Super-G Constellation that was fitted with radar for airborne surveillance.

After Bill's retirement from the Air Force, he was employed for 15 1/2 years as an electronics technician at Texas Instruments in Austin. His retirement from T.I. came in 1984.

Lillian was the youngest of eight children born to Walter and Anna Malec of Centerline, Michigan. Time eventually saw the Malec family move to Hallettsville, Texas, where Walter became the editor, and then also the owner and publisher, of the Novy Domov, the oldest Czech newspaper in Texas.

The Malec family members were Catholic and Lillian learned to play the old-fashioned pump organ in church before it was changed to operate electronically.

All of the children became involved in the newspaper business when their father also began to publish the English newspaper, The Tribune. This is what Lillian was a great part of before she began studies at The University of Texas. But when she eventually went to Florida, as they say, the rest is history.

Here at the Regency Villas, Bill still works at his major interest as an Amateur Radio Operator. He has done this since childhood.

Lillian enjoys interviewing the Villas residents for the "Getting to Know You" news sheet which she started writing recently. Its purpose is to familiarize the residents with each other.

In addition to the newspaper business, Lillian was a secretary to the Texas Secretary of State at the State Capital in Austin. She was a "ghost writer" for his newsletter, which she prepared for him after his trips to constituents around the state. When the University of Texas Music Department began publishing its magazine, The Texas String News, she was assistant editor of that publication.

The Pearsons were blessed with three children. Daughter Charlotte lives here at the Villas. Son Buddy has resided in Austin for years. And in Round Rock, Texas lives their son Charles, with his wife, Elisa, and the "extra special" grandsons, Andrew and Landon.

Now at the age of 86 Bill moves with the aid of a walker. But he still frets over the right leg that he broke in 2006.

Lillian's medical history goes all the way back to 1965, when she became seriously paralyzed with what doctors diagnosed as Multiple Sclerosis. But she was doing so much better seven years later that the doctors re-diagnosed her paralysis as having been Guillain Barre'. She may walk a little funny today, but back in the 70's that didn't stop her from going to the Texas state capital in Austin to get jobs with Senators and State Representatives. Her last position before retirement was as administrative assistant to State Representative Phyllis Robinson of Gonzales.

It's been a busy life for Bill and Lillian, moving from base to base according to Air Force orders. But they always met and enjoyed interesting people along the way, just as they are doing now at the Villas. It's a really nice life.