William (Bill) Alfred Neale, age 74, passed away Thursday, December 28th 2023.

Bill was born in Toledo, OH, April 22, 1949, the son of the late Dr. Alfred Eugene Neale and Joan Lohra Laird Neale.  He was raised in Anderson, Indiana, with his younger sister Lorri.  He attended Anderson High School where he raised a lot of good-natured hell in his green 1966 fastback mustang, made several lifetime friends, and met the love of his life, Terry.

Bill graduated from Purdue University with a bachelor's degree in computer science, a major in math and computer science, and a minor in history.  He put all parts of his degree to good use, working for GM, EDS, and HP, while maintaining his love of history through his hobby of modeling trains.  His hobby would grow into fulltime fun and a business after retirement as he attained the title of Master Model Railroader from the National Model Railroad Association.  Bill had an extensive HO-scale model railroad in his basement.  He was a true artist when it came to locomotive and train car painting and weathering.  He loved to share his amazing wealth of knowledge concerning the Pennsylvania Railroad traveling the country giving presentations, publishing articles in model railroad magazines, and serving as the Central District Director of the National Model Railroad Association.  He loved to host operating sessions in his basement with other train enthusiasts and loved to help others with their layouts.

Outside of work and hobbies, Bill was a devoted, enthusiastic, and loving husband and father.  Bill and Terry were joyfully married on June 10th, 1972, in Anderson, Indiana.  Together they lived in several places in Illinois and Ohio before settling in Farmington, Michigan.  They found a lovely home and an amazing yard to share with their two daughters, Carrie and Jenny.  Bill and Terry loved to work on house and yard projects together, building decks, knocking down walls, and maintaining the creek in the backyard.  Bill and Terry's retirement hobbies included bird feeding and watching, and once again, raising hell in a sports car, this time a Honda S2000.  They liked to ride 'the Dragon's Tail' in North Caroline Blue Ridge Mountains with the top down and wind in their hair.  Bill loved beautiful evenings on his deck with a glass of wine and good company.  And nothing could beat Terry's apple pie for him in the Fall.

As a father, Bill was enthusiastic in every aspect, whether it was explaining high school math in endless different ways until his daughter was confident enough to pursue an Aerospace Engineering degree or cheering at his girls' and basketball and volleyball games.  Bill made sure his daughters were skilled in using power tools and expressing their creative sides.  He and Terry set up a basement workstation so Carrie and Jenny could work on art, crafts, and school projects in the basement alongside Bill as he worked on his model railroad.  And of course, Bill made sure to educate his daughters on raising hell.  This included making sure his girls tromped through mud, knew how to catch frogs, snakes, and bugs.  Bill also made sure he and his girls had water guns ready for neighborhood water fights.  This included accurately sized, black machine gun water-guns, that made machine gun noises (definitely not allowed these days).  He even bought extra cartridges for his daughters to carry on their belts to ensure his daughters would dominate neighborhood water battles!  He eagerly provided eggs and TP for his daughters' high school prank wars and would hand them Black Cat firecrackers to use on anthills and hornet nests! Along with these important life skills, he also made sure to sprinkle in plenty of Dad-jokes.

Bill was also a devoted Papa to grandkids, Elizabeth, Parker, and Veronica.  Always ready for hugs, watching fun videos, building brio train layouts, and helping the kids orchestrate firework shows in his backyard.

Bill was a friend to everyone, even strangers, always trying to crack jokes with waitstaff, nurses, and people in line next to him at the grocery.

Bill is survived by his loving wife, Teresa (Terry) Neale; Bill's oldest daughter Caroline (Carrie) Barrett and her family - husband, Cory Barrett, and children Parker and Veronica Barrett; Bill's youngest daughter Jennifer (Jenny) Neale and her family -husband, David Repp, and daughter, Elizabeth Repp; Bill's sister, Lohra Laird Vogel and family – husband, Richard Vogel, sons Wiliam and Benjamin Vogel.

Memorial tributes are suggested to the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society , American Cancer Society or by clicking the "Plant Trees in Remembrance" button on the left margin above, or below this obituary.