TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online
'Retired' Bissi Still Staying Busy
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: November 30, 2007
NEW PORT RICHEY - His neatly appointed office looks like a law library, with numerous tomes standing like sentinels in a bookcase lining a wall.
William L. Bissi sits behind a solid wooden desk. He wears a flannel shirt, khaki slacks, a ball cap, a short silver-gray beard and a twinkle in his eyes,
Bissi is 92 years old, runs Bissi & Associates Disability Advocates LLC, which represents underprivileged claimants before the Social Security Administration, and he's looking for a "top-notch agent" and a publisher for a book he recently wrote on winning disability cases.
"I'm officially retired," he says with a laugh.
His warm smile belies an aching heart: His wife, Dorothy, died in July after 64 ½ years of marriage. When he speaks of her, his grief surfaces.
"We were married on Valentine's Day. I was in the Army in World War II," Bissi explains. "I miss my wife. I keep busy, and that's what keeps me going. It isn't easy; she was 86."
Bissi holds a juris doctor degree but "didn't really enjoy law."
Beginning in the late 1930s, he worked for the Social Security Administration.
Bissi was a public relations executive for the agency. The future Dorothy Bissi, a Nebraska native, also was employed there. They met at a picnic.
"They had a long, happy relationship," said son Douglas Bissi, who has three sisters. "They rarely went anywhere without family. We had wonderful dinners. Birthdays and anniversaries were big."
On Dorothy's 85th birthday, they went to Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel. "It was an experience she would never forget," William Bissi recalled with a huge grin. "Six tuxedoed waiters carried food to our tables. It was real formal."
"That was their life," Douglas Bissi said. "We weren't into trips or social cliques. We even had neighbors' kids in our family. They his parents were both people persons."
Last year, the Bissis hired artist and sculptor Tamara Gerkin of Port Richey to paint a mural on the outside of their Grand Boulevard office. They were impressed with the period piece she had done on The Karl Reef nightclub's exterior nearby.
When Dorothy Bissi died, her family wanted to do something original in her memory. So they commissioned Gerkin to create a bust of the couple embracing and appearing as they did years ago. The clay sculpture would then be cast into bronze and will be placed on a graveside pedestal at Trinity Memorial Gardens.
Gerkin said she chose a pose and a shape representing their love for each other, the years they spent together and the circle of life.
"It was emotionally difficult because Mrs. Bissi has passed and I adored her," Gerkin said. "She also was an artist."
Gerkin has been working on the piece for nearly four months and expects to be finished soon.
"We really miss Mom. It will be a nice memorial to her," Douglas Bissi said. "The sculpture will be definitive of their love for each other. It will be a celebration of that love."
TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online Member Agreement | Privacy Statement | Work With Us
Post a comment
(Requires free registration.)
* Keep it clean
* Respect others
* Don't hate
* Don't use language you wouldn't use with your mom
* Use "Report Inappropriate Comments" link when necessary
* See Member Agreement for details