Bill Love

“I spent 30 years in prison.”

It’s the first thing Bill Love tells a new acquaintance about himself, and it’s true — in a way. Long before becoming executive director of Beaufort County’s Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, Bill worked for 30 years in adult corrections and juvenile justice in his home state of Pennsylvania, including an eight-year stint as deputy secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.

     Interacting daily with death row inmates while also teaching graduate school students in the criminal justice program at Pennsylvania State University taught him a critical life lesson.

     “I asked my students and the inmates the same question: ‘What do you want out of life?’ And their answers were almost identical, things like a family and a home,” Bill says. “No matter what people think, we’re all the same.”

MAKING FOOTPRINTS IN NORTH CAROLINA

     That core belief followed Bill in a career change when he decided to move south, relocating to Lake Norman near Charlotte to start a business with two friends. The Footprints Carolina agency grew to serve more than 2,000 children and adults with developmental disabilities and mental health issues. Bill says he “fell in love” with that work. And just as with his former grad students, he saw a common thread between the prison and special needs populations.

     “They’re both ignored and made invisible. We’ve taken away their voice,” he says. “It bothers me when people are hurt, when they feel they’re not part of something. It’s important to give people with disabilities a voice and visibility so they can contribute.”

     The issue is more widespread than we might think, Bill explains, noting one in four Americans have a handicap of some type. “Anything that makes people look or feel different is a risk. It’s too easy to have a caste system if you don’t ‘look right’ or ‘live right.’ I’ve never understood why we treat people differently.”

     Bill learned that lesson as a young child. His father, who owned a hotel and bar, and also worked in a steel mill, told him and his eight siblings to “work hard, study hard, save money, and treat people right.” But Bill was one of the “different” ones, born with an extra finger below the pinkie on his right hand.

     “I wrapped my hand up so I could play football like the other boys — we had to play football — but I felt I couldn’t take full advantage of things,” he says. “I knew I was different.”

     Surgery corrected the problem, leaving only a small external scar, although perhaps a trace lingers inside.

     “I’m a survivor,” Bill says.

     In 2005, Bill moved farther south to Beaufort County, settling on Dataw Island. It wasn’t long before he found a new way to continue his passion for serving people with special needs, joining the County’s Department of Disabilities and Special Needs. The department advocates for people with developmental disabilities and special needs, so they can live more productively and inclusively in the community, offering services including early intervention for young children, case management, a day program and employment opportunities for adults, and residential living. It’s the only disabilities agency in the state that is a county department, getting about a quarter of its funding from Beaufort County Council.

     “Our county is great with this population,” Bill says. “I recognize and appreciate the support from the county council and administration.”

     Bill started as director of the adult day program before moving into the executive director role in 2015. Since then, he’s played a key role in the agency’s growth, helping create its state-of-the-art service and administration center near Shell Point and the respite/after-school program, which provides families with activities and needed relief. Employment opportunities for the department’s clients have increased significantly under his leadership, and the residential program has established six additional facilities.

     Still, it’s clear he doesn’t think his work is done.

     “What I think about often are the ingredients in making people happy and what gets in the way. What can be taught in the schools, in the churches?” he says. “People tend to isolate themselves. They often don’t interact with those who are different from themselves, so they don’t learn. I can’t allow something small to interfere with something big.”

     As much as Bill loves what he does, it’s far from all that keeps him busy well into his 70s. He’s the proud father of two grown daughters and grandfather of three boys and a girl. He’s also an avid exerciser, is taking both piano lessons and Spanish lessons, and attends church at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Beaufort.

     “I have to do things,” he says. “I’m driven.”

     Bill says both his daughters also feel strongly about treating people right — another lesson he’s passed on to those around him.

     “If you see someone else treating people right, it’s contagious,” he says. “We don’t realize our power in doing small things for people. We’re put on earth to make a difference. I’ll continue to work as long as I can make a difference.”