William "Bill" Ross worked as a research chemist for the EPA, U.S. Air Force, and NASA, served as a medic in the U.S. Army, and earned more than 40 publications and 3 patents. Outside his career, he was a devoted farmer and dairyman who worked a farm that had been in his family for more than 200 years. He was also an avid churchgoer and a school board member for Eaton Community Schools, and those who knew him remembered him fondly.