Alvin William Pistorius (1923 - 2003)

Born 25 Aug 1923 in Carlinville, Macoupin, Illinois, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Stella Margaret (Stapleton) Pistorius — married 21 Oct 1950 in Sacred Heart of Mary, New Berlin, Sangamon County, Illinois, USA

Descendants

Died 10 Nov 2003 at age 80 in The Woodlands, Montgomery, Texas, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Mary Rudd [send private message]

Biography

Bill Miller, 80 - Pioneer broadcaster, press freedom giant

Bill Miller was a tireless backer of freedom of the press and open government in Illinois who won awards as a news broadcaster and inspired a generation of student journalists as a university teacher. Mr. Miller, 80, who pioneered broadcast news reporting at the statehouse, died early Monday, Nov. 10, after an extended battle with cancer at his home in The Woodlands, Texas. "He was an amazing individual," said Charles N. Wheeler III, who succeeded Mr. Miller as the director of the public affairs reporting program at the University of Illinois at Springfield. "He was a giant in broadcast news."

Born in Downstate Carlinville as Alvin William Pistorius, he began using the professional name Bill Miller early in his radio career after a boss suggested his real name was too cumbersome for use on the air. Mr. Miller started a 25-year career as a radio broadcaster at WTAX-AM in Springfield after graduating in 1949 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he met his future wife, Stella Margaret Stapleton of New Berlin.

Mr. Miller, who won 23 Associated Press awards, eventually launched the Capital Information Bureau, a statewide radio network based in the statehouse, and fought for the right to record proceedings that now are routinely recorded. "He broke the audio recording barrier in the House and Senate," said Ben Kiningham, bureau chief of Illinois Radio Network and president of the Illinois Legislative Correspondents Association, a group of news organizations that cover the Capitol and now benefit from Mr. Miller's fight in the 1950s through the 1990s for more openness in government.

Mr. Miller carried his press advocacy into his 19-year career as head of the graduate journalism program at Sangamon State University, which is now the University of Illinois at Springfield, and helped draft versions of the state open meetings and freedom of information acts. In the 1960s, he uncovered a scandal in which a company had won a bid to supply furniture to Sangamon County but cheated the taxpayers out of thousands of dollars by supplying inferior quality. Mr. Miller's investigative reporting won the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award from the national Radio/Telvision News Directors Association. In class, he didn't brag about the Murrow award. He used the story to teach students about the value of protecting tipsters' anonymity.

"Bill was passionate about every aspect of his personal and professional life," a statement from Mr. Miller's family said, adding that he "lived life to the fullest." Along with his wife, Mr. Miller is survived by three daughters, Nancy Pistorius Buecker, Cindy Wieties-Ogren and Mary Pistorius Zerfas; a son, Bill Pistorius; and eight grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a son, William Edward, in 1959^[1][2]

Notes

Stella Margaret Stapleton Pistorius, 82, of The Woodlands, TX died Tuesday, April 12, 2011 in Houston, Texas leaving a son Bill Pistorius (wife, Susan; two daughters Jaimie and Lindsay, and son, Brian) of Arlington Heights, Illinois^[3]

1950 United States Federal Census

Name: Alvin W Pistorius

Sex: Male

Age: 26 years

Birth Year (Estimated): 1924

Birthplace: Ill

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Radio Announcer

Race: W

Industry: Radio Station

Relationship to Head of Household: Brother-In-Law

Event Date: 21 April 1950

Event Place: Woodside, Sangamon, Illinois

Household:

William M Parkinson Head M 48 years Ill

Lorena F Parkinson Wife F 43 years Ill

Dolores L Parkinson Daughter F 17 years Ill

Alvin W Pistorius Brother-in-law of Head of House M 26 years, single, Radio announcer^[4]

Marriage

Name: Alvin William Pistorius

Marriage Date: 21 Oct 1950

Marriage Place: Sacred Heart of Mary, New Berlin, Illinois, USA

Father: Alvin Wm Pistorius

Mother: Laura Amelia Heitmeyer

Spouse: Stella Margaret Stapleton

Father: Edward Stapleton

Mother: Stella Hanrahan^[5]

Death

Name: Alvin William Pistorius, Jr

Sex: Male

Previous Residence: Spring, Montgomery, Texas, United States

Previous Residence Postal Code: 77381-3535

Death Date: 10 Nov 2003

Birth Date: 25 Aug 1923

Birthplace: Carlinville, Illinois, United States

Race: White

Father's Name: Alvin W Pistorius

Mother's Name: Laura A Heitmeyer^[6]

Burial

Buried: Calvary Cemetery, Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois, USA

Sources

1. ↑ November 11, 2003, Ray Long, Tribune staff reporter
2. ↑ http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2003-11-11/news/0311110215_1_illinois-radio-network-mr-miller-american-cancer-society
3. ↑ https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sj-r/obituary.aspx?n=stella-margaret-stapleton-pistorius&pid=150632828
4. ↑ "United States 1950 Census", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6X1V-4LZP : Thu Oct 05 16:07:34 UTC 2023), Entry for William M Parkinson and Lorena F Parkinson, 21 April 1950.
5. ↑ Catholic Diocese of Springfield; Springfield, IL; Illinois, Church Records, 1853-1975. Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield Sacramental Records, 1853-1975 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018.
6. ↑ "United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6KQS-VK7R : 10 February 2023), Laura A Heitmeyor in entry for Alvin William Pistorius, Jr.

• United States Federal Census; 1930, 1940;
• U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946;
• U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014;
• Web: Illinois, Find A Grave Index, 1809-2012;
• Web: Obituary Daily Times Index, 1995-Current