University of San Francisco - USF Don Yearbook (San Francisco, CA)

Page 8 text:

DEDICATED.... To Brother William I. Ferrill, S.J., a fellow Don. Born and raised in the shadow of the Hilltop spires. Bill Ferrill entered the University of San Francisco in 1947, after having served his country as a Marine in the Pacific during World War 11. His years as a student at USF were decisive ones in his life, for, while completing his higher education, he was seeking, like so many others, to answer the question: What shall I do with my life? In 1951, after having graduated with a degree in Political Science, he entered Sacred Heart Novitiate in Los Gatos, as a Jesuit lay brother postulant. With that act Bill Ferrill disappeared from the USF campus, but not forever. In 1957, after several years of training and service elsewhere, he returned to USF, to be put in charge of maintenance of the new Phelan Hall men's residence. This Don had returned to serve the Alma Mater he loved, and to dedicate himself to the formation and wellbeing of a new and younger generation of Dons. Brother Ferrill's work on the Hilltop has been what he himself is: efficient, methodical, strong. Quiet strength is the impression he most frequently creates. He soon became a familiar figure on the campus and around the Hall. His life has been one of service, service in the less spectacular, but not for that reason less necessary, material tasks which the complex running of a university requires. In this way he has collaborated in the work of Jesuit education. Brother Ferrill might well remain at USF for many years. As time goes on he might become one of the faculty fixtures that old grads love to recall at alumni banquets. Succeeding generations might well know and love good old Brother Ferrill. As things stand, however, as the 1960 DON goes to press, Brother Ferrill is in the hospital, very seriously ill. What God's will may be for him we do not know, but those of us who have known him during these few brief years on the Hilltop, will never forget this admirable, vigorous, young Jesuit brother—this brother Don—who has consecrated his life to working for the salvation of such as we. And, in order that his goodness and generosity go not unnoticed: in gratitude, in sorrow, and yet in pride, we dedicate to him the 1960 DON.

Page 10 text:

Foreward The student, the foundation of the University, A portrait of development and realization, A promise, and in the promise: a hope. The hope of a new era when harmony will reign. 6