William grew up in Arizona and Southern California, where he later studied Russian language and literature before doing graduate work at the University of Saarbruecken, Germany. A year later in 1972, William returned to Germany where he met his mentor into Anthroposophy, Ernst Lehrs, one of the first Waldorf teachers in the original school in Stuttgart, Germany. He then attended the Waldorf teacher’s training in Stuttgart before taking his first teaching position at the Denver Waldorf School in 1980. Another longer period of time spent in Germany intervened, during which he met his wife Margarete, before his next position at the Waldorf School of Orange County in 1996. Two years later he moved to Ashland, Oregon taking a class six at the Ashland Waldorf School. When his class was closed as part of the transition to the Siskiyou School, William took a new direction eventually becoming the CFO of the American office of a German Wind and Solar Energy company, a position he still holds today.
