FHS alum makes memories via 'Bill's Big Adventure'

FINDLAY — A chance encounter on a cruise ship led Bill Cordes to an epic road trip in his turquoise 1965 Mustang this summer. Cordes, a 1980 Findlay High School graduate, visited Findlay recently to attend the 50th class reunion of the 1976 eighth-grade class of St. Michael the Archangel Catholic School. He grew up across from the downtown St. Michael's church, and is still in touch with many of his classmates from childhood. He said the reunion was special. A classmate who is now a priest led a special Mass and Cordes, along with other classmates, served as altar boys for the first time in decades. Now a resident of Hahira, Georgia, Cordes began planning this trip after encountering a St. Michael's classmate on a cruise around Belize earlier this year. She asked if Cordes was planning to come to the 50th reunion. At the time, he said maybe — but was uncertain, as Findlay is a long way from Georgia. Then he was invited to a surprise 21st birthday party for a family friend in Virginia the week before the reunion, and started thinking about a road trip. He and his wife had recently done a long trip together, and she wasn't interested in doing another so soon. Cordes decided that, if he was going to do the trip solo, "I'm going to take that old Mustang." So he looked to see if there might be any car shows in the area and found Car Tunes on Main in downtown Findlay on Aug. 1. It was the same weekend as the St. Michael's reunion. Cordes began planning his route, incorporating visits to other family and friends along the way there and back. All told, he said, it worked out to "about 2,300 miles in a car with no air conditioning." Cordes has had an interest in Mustangs for a long time. "I had a Mustang in high school," he said. "Ohio Rustbucket is what I called it." His wife found him his latest Mustang for his retirement. The bright turquoise appealed to Cordes immediately. "No Ohio rust," he said. "I mean, it's got original floorboards." The retirement that the couple celebrated with the car was actually Cordes' second. He joined the Air Force several months after graduating high school and left Ohio for Lackland Air Force Base in Texas on April 3, 1981 — just after President Ronald Reagan was shot in an assassination attempt. He worked on liquid fuels maintenance throughout his military career, which would take him to Air Force bases across the United States as well as England, Korea, and Okinawa, Japan. He was sent to the Kosovo War in the late 1990s and to the Middle East for Operation Enduring Freedom a few years later, after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But the most significant to him personally was Bergstrom Air Force Base (now closed), outside Austin, Texas. There, he met Jayne Miller — who became his wife, Jayne Cordes. Cordes retired from active duty at the rank of master sergeant in late 2002. He then spent the next 20 years working as a civil servant at Moody Air Force Base near Valdosta, Georgia, also in liquid fuels maintenance. He retired at the end of 2022. His military honors included a medal for heroism, for assisting at the scene of an accident. "I don't feel I'm a hero," but "the Lord always seemed to have me at the right place at the right time," he said. That proved true on his road trip, as well. Cordes himself escaped accidents, but ended up calling 911 twice on the drive north after witnessing others. One section of the drive included "some pretty good downpours," he said. In Findlay earlier this month, Cordes was recognized as the driver who had driven the farthest to attend Car Tunes on Main. He also received an award as one of the top 25 cars. "Lots of fun representing South Georgia Classic Car Club," he wrote on his Facebook account of the journey, "Bill's Big Adventure." He was able to catch up with a high school classmate with whom he had shared a tool bench in shop class, learning mechanical skills that went on to help him in his liquid fuels work. Also along the way, he was able to catch up with several other loved ones, including a stay with his sister in Chillicothe. He wrote on Facebook that he had enjoyed her breakfast. "She's been feeding and watering her little brother since I came into the world," he wrote. Two days later, on Day 7 of "Bill's Big Adventure," Cordes posted the following: "Today Rawson, Ohio. Then over the weekend I'll make more memories with classmates, family and friends. So try it! Get off the couch, outside your home and see things, visit and make a new memory and story." Upon concluding the journey, he wrote, "Yes, I would do it again. Maybe not in the Mustang in July/August but definitely good to reconnect with people I love."