A Life Devoted To Serving Others

Bill Bourbon was born in Dover Foxcroft and raised in Orono, Maine where he remained through graduation in 1956 from John Bapst High School located in Bangor, Maine. Although Bill grew up in Orono he and his (3) siblings all attended John Bapst High School as at the time John Bapst was the area's only Catholic High School. After graduating high school Bill worked for a year at the Eastern Fine paper mill located in Brewer, Maine, but soon realized he wanted something different. In the spring of 1957 Bill joined the United States Marine Corp. After completing basic training Bill was assigned to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY) where he was a Military Police officer at the Federal Prison. Bill was honorably discharged in 1960 and enrolled as a Physical Education (P.E.) major at the University of Maine at Orono (UMO). While at UMO Bill played Freshmen football and a variety of intramural sports throughout his years on campus. He graduated in the spring of 1964 and began his first teaching position that fall at North Berwick High School (NBHS) where he taught P.E., coached football, basketball, and baseball while also overseeing the athletic programs at NBHS. In 1966 the towns of North Berwick, Berwick, and Lebanon joined together to become MSAD #60 and chose the school name of “Noble Knights”. Although the students of the three communities continued attending schools in their own towns for several more years, the athletic teams began competing as a district under the name of Noble High School. In the fall of 1967, Bill coached the football team to the school district's first ever state championship. Following the 1967-68 school year, Bill stepped away from teaching and coaching and became the first Assistant Principal/Athletic Director of Noble High School. In 1974 Bill left North Berwick and the MSAD #60 schools to become the principal at Mattanawcook Academy located in Lincoln, Maine. He remained there through February of 1978 when he returned to Noble High School to become the Principal. In the spring of 1980 Bill was promoted to Assistant Superintendent where he remained until 1998 when he accepted his final position for MSAD #60 as Superintendent of schools. Bill retired after a long and gratifying career in education in 2000. After leaving the school business to begin a well deserved retirement, Bill received one final honor when the stadium field at Noble High School was dedicated as William R. Bourbon Stadium.