William Slatter

May 31, 1927 – April 12, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A celebration of life for William “Bill” Slatter, 87, of Washington, D.C., who died April 12, 2015, in Washington, where he moved in September 2014, to live with his daughter, Katherine Slatter Kirlin and family, will be 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1, 2015, at Lansdowne Plantation, 17 Marshall Road in Natchez.

Arrangements were under the direction of Joseph Gawler’s Sons LLC in Washington, D.C.

Bill was born in Buffalo, N.Y., and at age 11 moved with his family to Natchez where his father, Albert “Bert” Slatter, was manager at the newly-opened Armstrong Tire and Rubber Company. He graduated from Natchez High in 1944. He spent a year at Louisiana State University before joining the U.S. Navy in 1945, a few months before the end of World War II. He served in the Philippine Islands until his honorable discharge in 1946.

He was a member of First Presbyterian Church of Natchez and the Natchez Rotary Club.

William Slatter started his career in broadcasting at WMIS Radio in Natchez, and then attended the University of Buffalo for a year before graduating from LSU.

Bill married Denver Jenkins in 1948 in Natchez and together they raised five children.

Bill spent the next several decades in radio and television in a number of cities, including WBRZ in Baton Rouge, WDSU in New Orleans, KOCO in Oklahoma City and WMAQ in Chicago. He also served as managing editor of radio news for Armed Forces Network (AFN) in Frankfurt, Germany, during the Vietnam War. He and his family traveled and camped throughout Europe during those two years, often in a Volkswagen bus piled high with tents.

Notable professional accomplishments include the only filmed interview of Lee Harvey Oswald before he assassinated President Kennedy, an interview of John and Jacqueline Kennedy while the future president was a senator, and numerous interviews with national, political and social leaders. Bill was the evening anchor at most of the television stations with which he was associated, and, as a broadcast coach, helped a number of prominent on-air talents succeed.

Bill retired from NBC (Chicago) in 1986, and he and Denver returned to Natchez. Bill started Bill Slatter and Associates and he continued to consult and also coach on air talent. Standing almost 6 feet 4 inches tall, and gifted with a great voice, Bill also occasionally acted in films. He had a small speaking part in “Band of Angels,” a film with Clark Gable and Yvonne DeCarlo. He later played walk-on parts in “Ghosts of Mississippi” and other films.

Thanks to his wife’s excellent cooking, Bill developed a life-long appreciation of all good food and wine. He loved classical music and frequently tested his children’s knowledge of the great symphonies while at dinner. Bill was an avid walker, bicyclist and tennis player for most of his life. His other passions included gardening, travel, military history, reading biographies and beating anyone at Jeopardy. During his last 10 years in Natchez, Bill made more than 40 videotaped interviews of local World War II veterans. Those tapes and his papers will be donated to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

After his first wife, Denver, died in 1995, Bill married again in 1997 to Devereux Marshall, a classmate and close friend of both Denver and Bill’s from Natchez school years. Bill enjoyed 17 years with Devereux and her family at Lansdowne in Natchez. He frequently could be seen during Pilgrimage giving tours of Lansdowne or filming local events such as Angels on the Bluff at the Natchez City Cemetery. He and Devereux traveled frequently to Europe and the Caribbean with family. Devereux died in January 2015.

Bill Slatter is preceded in death by his parents; one sister, Ruth; his two wives; and his eldest daughter, Ellen Van Camp who died in 2003.

Survivors include four children, Katherine Kirlin and husband, Tom, William Slatter and wife, Jackie, Ira Slatter and close friend, Ellen Reyher, and Hyde Slatter and wife, Nan; his older brother, John “Jack” Slatter of Vermont; two stepdaughters, Lisa Baker and husband, Burk, and Marsha Colson; seven surviving grandchildren, Wesley Van Camp and wife, Debbie, Eli Van Camp and wife, Hannah, Kate Van Camp and fiancé, Daniel, Annie Kirlin, Katie Kirlin, Michael Slatter and wife, Maggie, and Suzanne Slatter; two great-grandsons, Henry Van Camp and William Francis Van Camp; one great-granddaughter, Grace Ellen Van Camp; a number of loving stepchildren and step-grandchildren; and a number of nieces, nephews and close friends.

Memorials in his name may be sent to the Judge George W. Armstrong Public Library in Natchez or to a charity of choice.