Bill Schilling was a parishoner at St. John's Parish in McLean, VA . He founded a scholarship in the name of his late wife for seminarians from the parish, giving them sorely needed money each semester to pay for essentials. He also funded a Catholic orphanage and school for victims of the AIDS virus in Kenya. He continued to support the seminarians and the orphanage in his will. He left a substantial amount of money to the Diocese of Arlington as well.
I visited him some weeks ago as his health began to fail. He told me about how he and his wife had saved their whole life to buy a house. As the years went on decided not to buy a home of their own. Rather, they stayed in the same modest apartment for decades. They never had children of their own, but their life's work would go to support their spiritual children in Africa and the good work of the Arlington Diocese. He said missed his wife very much and was ready to see her again. She passed away in 1999. He sat wrapped in the blanket that kept her warm in her last days. As we spoke I thought of a story I once heard about Father Wilfrid Faber. Seemingly on his death bed, surrounded by family and friends, Father Faber got better. Bill passed away this morning from liver cancer. He didn't get better, he got the best. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Psalm 115:15
May he rest in peace.
