Dr. William Greene

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• Injury: medicine, story, military
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-171245

Notes:

Dr. William Greene Mason - Dentist - Aviator

From a very early age, William Greene lived and breathed a desire to fly. His first attempt at flight came before he was 12 years old, when he jumped from the second story of a building using an umbrella to slow his descent. Only the prompt action of a neighbour saved young Bill Greene from his first test flight crash disaster. For the next 28 years, William Greene continued on this quest. His major aim and passion was aviation.

For the last 40 years of his life, he didn't even admit he knew how to fly. He quietly practiced dentistry in the Peace River country, enjoying pursuits such as hunting, trapping, dog sled races, and entertaining his fellow citizens. Only occasionally did he travel to his other world to visit his family in the United States or attend meetings of the Early Birds of Aviation, a club with a membership of people who had flown before 1916.

The last 40 years of his life he never piloted a plane and seldom talked about his accomplishments. Neighbors and friends didn't even realize that their dentist Doc Green had been one of the first, and one of the best.


Born to a wealthy San Francisco family in 1872, Bill Greene led a fairly privileged life - private schools, vacations at Monterey, the paradise spot partly developed by his own father, and for cultural variety and fun, visits to and from his uncle Clay Greene, co-founder and for many years "shepherd" of the famous Lambs Club in New York....


There is a record on file that a craft built by William Greene, then the treasurer of the US Aeronautic Society, had a wing span of 40'0" and was powered by three props, two tractors, and one pusher. There is no record of whether the flight of this aircraft was successful.

It seemed that something always went wrong at the last minute for Dr. Greene. In 1909, he built a machine to compete for the $10,000 prize offered by a New York newspaper for the first flight from Albany to New York, but just before the plane was quite finished, he heard that Glenn Curtiss was ready to go. Promptly, Dr. Greene went to New York and was there in time to wish his rival good luck and hold his machine for the take off. Curtiss won the money.

Then in 1910, Greene planned to take part in the Belmont Air Meet, but one of his planes crashed just before the Meet and another could not be finished in time. He did fly in the Meet, but he had to fly other people's machines.

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However, all the enthusiasm, courage and interest in the world couldn't pay the bills and by 1910, Bill Greene had pretty well exhausted his resources and those of his friends and family. He was broken in spirit and body - he'd lost badly at the Belmont Meet and he'd injured himself seriously in a crash - so he went from one extreme to another.

As to exactly when Dr. Greene made his first airplane flight, and whether he was third or eighth or whatever, is hard to say. Dr. Greene himself said he thought he'd built planes that "hopped" pretty well in 1907. A letter written by Dr. Greene in 1918 , quotes the year 1906, which would have made him the third man in the world to fly. Other sources such as the May 22, 1910, issue of the New York Sun, place him solidly in the top eight. The article states, "The only American machines that have made successful flights are the Wright, Curtiss-Herring, Greene, Pfitzner, and Herring-Burgess airplanes. Besides the Wright brothers, the only other aviators in this country are Curtiss, Williard, Dr. Greene, Hamilton and Pfitzner."

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In 1911, he travelled to Canada and found his way by railway to Edmonton and then to the settlement of Peace River. From there, he travelled another 300 miles, this time by oxen team, to Hudson Hope in the Peace River area of British Columbia. He lived there for four years with his wife and family as just plan "Bill Greene," trapping and homesteading and living a life about as different from his former life as anything could be.

The Greene's daughter Ursula was born while they were in the north. In fact, she was supposed to have been born in Edmonton but she came en route; thus she first saw the light of day in a small room above a saloon in Grouard, Alberta, which at that time was a Hudson Bay post. In a 1943 Star Weekly article, Ursula (who became a movie actress called Toni Crane) was said to have driven her own team of dogs, felled trees, blazed trails and caught a lynx: while living the life of a pioneer in Hudson Hope.

When news of the war finally filtered up to Hudson Hope, Dr. Greene came out right away and enlisted with the Royal Flying Corps in Toronto. They discovered his age, however, and rejected his offer. He then went back to the United States and was appointed research officer in charge at Kelly Field, the largest flying field then in the United States.

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In 1922 after the war, he came back to Canada and the Peace River country, although he settled for the comparatively civilized town of Peace River rather than head into the far north and Hudson Hope. He never flew a plane again, and described himself merely as an interested onlooker in the developing aviation field.

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Dr. Greene settled down to be a dentist and a good citizen, and was a colourful character in Peace River. He obviously had an itchy foot and would sometimes disappear for months without warning on long trips. Sometimes trapping, sometimes making a tour as an itinerant dentist, and other times to visit the US. He was cynical at times, and was apparently quite temperamental when it came to certain topics concerning dentistry, but he was considered to be a warm hearted man, and a great asset to Peace River.
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Dr. Greene died of a stroke on August 28, 1952, in Edmonton, Alberta. After his death, his wife Evangeline, moved to North Carolina in the United States to be with her daughter Ursula and her son-in-law Robert Reinhart. The Reinharts and Mrs. Greene eventually settled in Key Biscayne Florida where Mrs. Greene became well known for her painting. At the tender age of 91 in 1965, she celebrated her birthday with a show of her paintings at the Key Biscayne Community Church.


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As a memorial to Dr. Greene, a stone cairn is located on a hill above Peace River with a bronze plaque commemorating his contributions to the community and to the organizations to which he belonged.

The plaque on the cairn reads;

IN MEMORY OF
WILLIAM GREENE M.D. D.D.S.
SAN FRANCISCO - MAY 2, 1874
EDMONTON - AUGUST 28, 1952
ONE OF THE FIRST TO FLY
INVENTOR
EXPLORER
PIONEER
TO LIVE IN THE HEARTS
OF THOSE WE LOVE
IS NOT TO DIE

The plaque has several emblems surrounding the text, including the Square and Compasses.
At the bottom of the plaque for Dr. Greene is a smaller plaque honouring his wife, which reads;

"Mary Evangeline
Hilliard Greene.
07 Nov. 1872 Waterloo Ont.
21 Aug. 1972 Miami Fl.
Lifetime Companion."

RW Bro. Richard Ashby

Resources: Dr. B. Sandercock, Peace River Archives, Peace River Remembers, the US Aeronautic Society, Grand Lodge of Alberta AF&AM, and Dentistry Internet site.

https://www.linshaw.ca/v12/omtp/vol07no09.pdf

William — Mary Evangeline Hilliard. Mary (daughter of Thomas L. Hilliard and Catharine Lillian Sauder) was born 7 Nov 1872, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 21 Aug 1972, Biscayne, Miami, Florida; was buried , Peace River, , Alberta, Canada. [Group Sheet]