Bill and his brothers grew up at 1910, 5th Avenue, in a house with two stories; with the bedrooms and a bath upstairs and also a chute that was for getting soiled laudry to the basement, but was also fun to send other things down. The house had a nice backyard and a separate garage that also housed a workshop for Bill's Dad.

In high school Bill played football (long snapper) in sports and trumpet in the band. He had piano lessons, and could pound out some brisk tunes on short notice throughout his life. He was schooled at Robert Morris, in Pittsburgh, travelling there daily by train, using his father's railroad pass.

Bill was employed by Western Maryland Dairy prior to World War II, when he was drafted into the Signal Corps. He graduated from OCS - no small task - and was commissioned in the Ordnance Corps. He met his wife-to-be Elaine at a USO party. He served in Belgium and Luxembourg in the European Theater of Operations with ammunition units, and returned stateside at the end of the war to resume employment with Western Maryland Dairy. Recalled for the Korean War and re-branched to Finance, he was mobilized at Fort Meade, Maryland, and shortly thereafter shipped out to Korea. En route he was diverted to Japan, and his family, now with son Jay and daughter Ellen, soon joined him for a three year tour. There was a shortage of military quarters on base, so he first rented an off-base Japanese property with its paper Interior walls. Then he had a house built on base and moved into it. And when quarters were available, He sold the house at a modest profit and moved into them. From Japan his military duties took him to Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.

There at Ft Bliss, Bill was assigned to William Beaumont Army Hospital as its Comptroller. The Braden family lived in a one story single family house on the Army Base and they enjoyed family activities there; many asociated from being right across the border from Juarez, Mexico.

In 1959, Bill, then Captain Braden, was selected to attend the Finance Officer Advanced Course (FOAC) at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. As it turned out, Bill and his family would spend the balance of his military career there. When they arrived, they rented a newly built home on Hartman Drive, about eight blocks from Lawrence Central High School, from where Jay and ultimately Ellen would graduate. In 1959, however, Ellen was attending a nearby grade school just a short distance from the house.

Following FOAC Bill was assigned to the Finance Center for what would be a three year tour. Now in the area on a more permanent basis, the Bradens bought a home on 49th Street, also within walking distance to LCHS. The 49th street home had four bedrooms because the garage was enclosed to add the fourth bedroom for Jay. Ellen had her own bedroom and the smallest bedroom was used as a TV room. It was at this house that Jay met Bonnie; Ellen was having a party and Bonnie was one of her friends who was there for it.

Not long after FOAC the promotion list for those eligible to be promoted from captain to major was released and Captain Braden became Major Braden. This was received with mixed emotion: glad for Bill but sorry for Bill Barney, a close friend who was passed over.

After three years at the Finance Center Bill was assigned a short tour. This was an unaccompanied (no family) assignment to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he served as the pay officer for that region. These were the days when the military was paid in cash, so he travelled the region regularly doing this. One of the places he visited was India and he took some great pictures of the Taj Mahal.

Following his one year tour in the Middle East, Bill returned to Fort Benjamin Harrison and was again assigned to the Finance Center as the Chief of the Transportation Branch there. One of his employees was Barbara Chandler, and the Chandlers and the Bradens kept touch through the years. One of the things Barbara did was to decorate Jay’s senior cords for his last year in high school. During Bill’s tour in Riyadh Elaine and a close friend, Pat Rogers, decided to go back to work. They took the Civil Service Exam and Elaine was hired as a GS-3 secretary in what was known as the “central command.” (Elaine recalls the area as staffed with personnel from all services, though it cannot be a fore runner to today’s Central Command because that unified command was not established until 1983.)

Later, in 1963 when Jay had graduated from high school and gone on the Purdue, Elaine and Bill bought a home on Marrison Place. It was a nicer home in a nicer community that happened to be available for a reasonable price.

In 1968 Bill retired from the U.S. Army with 26 years of service at the rank of lieutenant colonel. His time was up at Fort Benjamin Harrison, and he would have been due for another short tour in order to stay in the service. The short tour would have been in Viet Nam. He retired. Bill explored some job opportunities in the area and was offered a budgeting related job with an elite nursing home in Franklin, Indiana, about 30 miles south of Indianapolis. The position required that he live at the facility, which was somewhat remote and rural. He declined.

When nothing further materialized in the job category, Bill, Elaine, and Ellen travelled to Baltimore, Maryland, where they stayed with Nanny and Mike (Elaine’s parents) at their house while they searched for a place to live. In their new home search using a real estate agent they came upon a home in a nice community. They liked the house and the price, $32,000. And then the agent drove them down to the waterfront owned by the community, Fairwinds on the Severn. That did it! The community owned and maintained docks, a boathouse for community activities, a swimming pool, and a picnic area. Elaine and Bill lived there for the next 33 years.

The community was close-knit. Everyone knew everyone. There were parties each month down at the waterfront, with an annual crab feast. The next door neighbors and close friends were the Lukes. Bob Luke was a judge and Lois Luke was a nurse. Bill got a job at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore and was the comptroller there for many years until his final retirement. He instituted procedures that greatly enhanced the fiscal discipline of the hospital and he was greatly respected there. Elaine, now a GS-4, continued her Civil Service by working at the U.S. Naval Academy in the office of the Director of Facilities where she was the secretary to the director for many years until her retirement. It was during this time that Ellen met Tom, and they were married at the Naval Academy following Tom’s graduation.

While at Fairwinds (their address was 3 Windward Drive, Severna Park, Maryland) Elaine and Bill had a power boat for water skiing and also, at one point, had a Windmill Class sailboat. Many wonderful times were had in taking the power boat out on the Severn and in fishing/crabbing from the dock area. A lot of crabs were caught and eaten, seasoned with Old Bay, of course. Jay, Bonnie, and young daughter Karen got to visit many times when Jay was assigned to Fort Belvoir, and Bill and Elaine visited them (to include Karen's baby sister Sandra) many times when while Jay was stationed in Germany.

Even after Jay and Bonnie and their family returned from Germany, Bill and Elaine - often with friends - traveled back to Germany to continue to experience the country.

Some of their close Fairwinds friends, besides the Lukes, were the Byrds (Kathleen and Ed). The Eirings (Lil), the Mollicks (Frank and Delcie). When not enjoying the social life in the community, Bill was a regular – three days a week – with his golf group at Fort Meade, that he called his "Over the Hill Gang." Bill and Elaine also spent a week many summers at Ocean City hosting the family for beach activities. They also enjoyed reestablishing their close relationship with Elaine’s family. There were many a Fourth of July weekends spend at her sister Virginia’s house. Jay would often stay at Virginia and Herman’s house with their sons: Stevie, Barry, and Neil. Nanny and Mike lived on Dogwood Road in Woodlawn, right beside the Wagenfers, for many, many years.

As the years progressed, Bill's memory began to fade. In what was a very diificult decision, they moved to Valrico, Florida to be closer to Jay's family. They bought a nice home in a gated community called River Hills. Bill died there in 2003. His remains are interred in the Crownsville Veterans Cemetery in Maryland.

Bill was a good man. He did very well in the Army, and was promoted with his contemporaries at times when many other good officers were not promoted. He was a good husband and the family did not want for anything. He loved Elaine so much. Jay remembers playing catch many times with his Dad, who often reminded him that if the ball hits your hands you should catch it ... some words Jay used often with his son Robert. Jay also remembers being active in scouting and in Little League baseball, and knows it was his parents who got him registered for these activities, and got him to and from them. It was also Bill who foresaw an engineering background in him, and had him enrolled at Purdue University. Bill also assisted with Jay's commissioning in the Army.