William Sie Bergdoll

William Sie Bergdoll, "Bill" or "Billy" as everyone knew him, age 56 years, died peacefully on Saturday, May 18, 2019 in Biloxi, MS. He was raised in and having recently returned to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Bill spent many of his years in the Dallas, TX and Scottsdale, AZ areas as well. Bill was born on September 4, 1962 in Kokomo, IN to his parents, William Marcus Bergdoll and Kay Runette Simon. He grew up in Biloxi, MS with Kay and Alton Bankston and graduated from Biloxi High School in 1980 and Texas A&M University in 1984. His faith, family, and friends were always close to his heart, and there was nothing Bill loved more than good company, Texas A&M University, riding his motorcycle, and music. A talented musician, Bill filled his life with song, performing on many stages throughout his life: The Biloxian’s Choir at Biloxi High School, the prestigious Singing Cadets at Texas A&M University, the choirs of All Saints Catholic Church and Prince of Peace Catholic Church of Dallas and Plano Texas, with St. Patrick Catholic Community and the "St. Elsewhere" group of Scottsdale, AZ, with the Arizona Arts Chorale, Carolyn Eynon Singers, and the esteemed Orpheus Male Chorus in Phoenix. From stages in College Station and churches across the southwest, to the historic Old First Church in Philadelphia for Benjamin Franklin's Tercentary (scored by Jackson Berkey of Mannheim Steamroller) and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., Bill's rich Bass 2 voice provided the anchor for every group with whom he performed. With the Singing Cadets of Texas A&M, he participated in the construction of the annual Bonfire, including a late-night trip to Austin to continue the tradition of cutting down a tree on the campus of rival University of Texas. He was a Fightin' Texas Aggie through and through, participating in the local A&M clubs, hosting traveling Singing Cadets at his home, and even attending a yearly Aggie football game at Kyle Field (including yell practice the night before) in recent years with his son, Joseph. BTHOTU! Farmers Fight! He first applied his Bachelors in Computer Science to work at Texas Instruments, and then switched gears to commercial document solutions with Xerox in Dallas and Phoenix from 1986–2000. This took him all over the country and to Europe as well. He then moved to the world of financial technology, at Avolent, where he managed enterprise sales in the New York metro area (2001), Primary Payment Systems, and Intelidata. In 2003, Bill started a new adventure in self-employment by opening up Bergdoll Insurance & Financial Services in Scottsdale, AZ, lasting until 2017. After numerous years of serving Arizonans' insurance needs, he returned to the world commercial printing with Konica-Minolta, where he worked first in the Phoenix Metro area from 2009–2013, and then on the Gulf Coast from 2018 until present. His friendly and lighthearted nature helped him excel every market he worked, and he formed countless lasting friendships along the way. Bill had a heart of gold and an altruistic soul, donating his time to many local and professional organizations along the way, including Scottsdale Rotary Club (and their planning committee for Special Day for Special Kids) where he was a Paul Harris Fellow, the Gulfport Rotary Club, St. Patrick’s (Scottsdale) Men’s Bible Study, BNI Arizona, Scottsdale Leadership, and Bikers Against Child Abuse. He served for 5 years as a commissioner on the Scottsdale Airport Commission, and donated blood as often as he could, which totaled over 30 gallons donated. He was beloved by every community in which he lived and was so fortunate to have such wonderful friends that filled his life with joy day in and day out. Bill is preceded in death by his father, William Marcus Bergdoll; grandparents, Sie and Edna Simon of Biloxi, MS and Max and Alice Bergdoll of Jersey City, NJ; and his aunt and uncle, Gerrie and Bobby Weldon of Biloxi, MS. He is survived by his son, Joseph Sie Bergdoll and his wife Anne Mattson; Jo Ann Bergdoll, his parents, Kay and Alton Bankston; his brothers, Greg (Sandy) Bankston and Jeff (Susan) Bankston; many aunts and uncles; and many nieces and nephews. Please make all donations to the Esophageal Cancer Action Network (www.ecan.org) and the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (www.pancan.org). A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, 2090 Pass Rd Biloxi, MS 39531. Visitation will be held at 10:00 am with Mass at 11:00 am, and burial to follow at Southern Memorial Park. The Howard Avenue Chapel of Bradford-O’Keefe Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.