William Amerine

William E. Amerine passed away on Jan. 30, 2017, at his home in Fredericksburg, TX. He was 63 years old.\r\n \r\nBill was born in San Antonio to Ernest M. and Marjorie Renfro Amerine. He was the second of four children and the oldest son. His father's career as an Air Force pilot took Bill and his family to assignments in Texas, Hawaii, Kansas, Massachusetts, Nebraska and the Philippines. He graduated from Bellevue High school in Bellevue, Nebraska, began college in the Philippines and, upon learning his Selective Service number was 4, enlisted in the Air Force. He served three years, was honorably discharged and enrolled in the Air Force ROTC program at Oklahoma State University. He graduated from OSU in 1977 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Force. His first duty assignment was at Minot Air Force Base in Minot, ND, where he met his future wife, Robin. They married in 1978.\r\n \r\nOver the next 17 years, Bill served in command positions at bases in Nebraska, Wyoming and California. He took early retirement in 1995, retiring as a major, and worked in the defense industry and data analysis before he and Robin returned home to Texas in 1997. For the next five years, Bill worked in telecommunications at Sprint's regional headquarters in Las Colinas, TX. In 2002, he and Robin bought their small ranch in rural Gillespie County, with the intent that it be their retirement home. But the lure of the Hill Country and that small ranch proved too strong. They moved to the Hill Country permanently in 2002, and in 2003 Bill assumed the position of executive director for the Kerr Emergency 9-1-1 Network in Kerrville. During his tenure, he worked to strengthen the relationships among the Kerr Emergency 9-1-1 Network and public safety agencies, including the Kerrville Police and Fire Departments and Emergency Medical Services, the Ingram City Marshall's Department, the Kerr County Sheriff's Department, and the Texas Department of Public Safety. He also supervised three updates of the 9-1-1 public safety answering point and the conversion of approximately 15,000 residential Kerr Country addresses to an urban format, enhancing responders' ability to locate residences during emergencies.\r\n \r\nBill was a gifted amateur photographer, an enthusiastic craft beer brewer and avid fisherman. He enjoyed traveling, especially on cruises and road trips to the Colorado Rockies and Texas Gulf Coast. But he loved his home in the Hill Country and the life he and Robin had made here.\r\n \r\nBill is survived by his wife of 38 years, Robin Bohannon Amerine; his father, Ernest M. Amerine; his sister, Deb Amerine Bayne and her husband Ron; his sister, Lori Amerine Fisher and her husband Carl; his brother, Jeff and his wife Phyllis; his sister-in-law, Deb Bohannon Johnson and her husband Larry; his brother-in-law, Tim Bohannon and his wife Sandi; and numerous cousins, nephews, nieces, grand-nephews and grand-nieces. \r\n \r\nFuneral services will be held at 2pm on Friday, Feb. 10, at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Kerrville, with visitation at Grimes Funeral Chapels from 5pm-7pm on Thursday, Feb. 9. \r\n\r\nHonorary pallbearers will be Jeff Amerine, Brett Amerine, Tim Bohannon, Mark Deltoro, Colby Johnson, Lawrence Johnson, Jason Poole, and Justin Poole.\r\n \r\nMemorials may be made to Peterson Hospice and to Patient Services at Peterson Regional Medical Center in honor of Dr. Ann Rosson.