You probably don’t know Bill Monfort. He turned 105 years old yesterday. A Navy veteran who lived through the attack on Pearl Harbor and just about every naval battle in the Pacific during World War II. He wears a baseball cap. It reads “Kamikaze WWII Survivor” in capital letters. At 103, Monfort contracted COVID-19. He was living alone, his wife having passed away years earlier. It was July 2020, and vaccines were not yet available. He spent three weeks in the hospital. He recovered, and after spending time in a rehabilitation center, moved back to his apartment in an assisted-living complex. In between all that he and his wife were founders of a local organization where people with disabilities could live in a homelike setting. Today, the charity, Angels Unaware, boasts eight campuses and is the longest-running group home in Tampa Bay. His daughter’s disability was the source of his passion and mission.

Thank you for your service.