William J. Krochalis – 50th Reunion Essay

William J. Krochalis

930 Tahoe Blvd

Ste 802-599

Incline Village, NV 89451

Krochalis@yahoo.com

Spouse(s): Sara Krochalis (2000)

Child(ren): Jason (1976), Logan (1986), David (1989)

Grandchild(ren): Caelen (2011), Avery (2015), Reagan (2018)

Education: Univ of Ct School of Law ,1976

Career: Insurance career as employee until 1996, then founded a start up in my kitchen, which reached 1600 employees and was sold to a global entity.

Avocations: Skiing, scuba, and finally getting an education.

College: Berkeley

It was so long ago and we were so young. The world was so tumultuous, but so perfectible, and we were so sure we could, and would, be shaping the changes so obviously needed. Somehow.

Of course, it didn’t quite turn out that way. Even in retrospect, the pivotal year was 1968. With LBJ out, the broad central consensus fractured and never reformed. With MLK shot, the dream of an integrated race-blind society gave way to a politics of power, and with RFK shot and all that came next, we lost the belief that it was going to be a good world continually getting better.

But for us it was just beginning, and we knew it would at least be good for us, and continually getting better. Except, of course, it didn’t turn out that way.

Most of what I learned at Yale I learned in the rooms at Berkeley, in the booths at Olivia’s, or in the halls. Somehow, I also got a decent smattering of knowledge in a few areas, and if I didn’t feel that I had learned much, at least I had learned how to learn.

I got engaged in my senior year, and married that summer. She was a good woman, but it was not a good marriage and it lasted through law school. We had one child, my son Jason. My next marriage was a complete disaster (and by then so was I), but we did have two great children, my daughter Logan and my son David. But my third marriage, in 2000, can only be explained as a gift from God, proving (to me at least) that he does love sinners. My wife, Sara, is simply the finest person I have ever known. We now have three grandchildren. My six-year-old grandson, Caelen, and I wear matching Best Buddy Ever tee shirts, and this year skied together at Tahoe, where we live. My two-year-old granddaughter, Avery, sparkles with the joy of life, and we have a newborn granddaughter, Reagan.

In my early 30s, I got my act together and slowly discovered a decent talent for business, driven by an interest in the process and the people. In my late 40s I started up a business in my kitchen, with a half dozen of the greatest people anyone ever worked with. We had somehow secured substantial financial backing with a Swiss financial group (that lifetime Yale privilege) and later with a brilliant private equity firm. Anyone who has worked in a start-up knows the intensity of the dedication required, and the team loyalty that can be forged. Ours was one where we had invested far more financially than we actually had, so we had literally bet our futures on each other. Our lives, and those of our families, are forever intertwined from the roller coaster highs and lows of those years we shared.

Only 15 years into it, we knew we would be a success, and we sold out to a global financial firm and slowly cashed out into retirement.

Retirement is a stage of life as free and fun as college, but with experience, perspective and resources. And hopefully without the self-importance, and certainly without the complexity of wanting and comparing. For several years I attended the outstanding Yale for Life weeklong seminars on Grand Strategy, Rome, the Renaissance and 1914–1945. At age 70, I feel that I can finally focus on learning. I just can’t remember it all very well. But life is a joy at this stage. I am no longer responsible for anyone else, and I get to read all day and to travel with my best friend most of the year to places I actually want to be. Life is good.