|
About Bill|
Bill Markley was born on St. Patrick's day in 1951. He and his wife Liz have been married since 1980 and have two children. Bill is active in church and is a Boy Scout leader. He is currently the Ground Water Quality Program Administrator for the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources. He is responsible for a variety of environmental protection and cleanup programs. |
|
While on annual leave from his job, Bill had the good fortune to be an extra in five movies including: Dances With Wolves, Son of the Morning Star, Far and Away, Gettysburg, and Crazy Horse. But these are not Bill's only adventures...
 |
 |
|
Bill was a member of an Antarctic research team for two expeditions in 1972 and 1973 in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica. The picture above is of Bill in the foreground and Mt. Erebus, an active volcano in the background. Below, Tomas Hudlicky (T. Hud) on the right, and Bill on the left, pull their equipment across the ice of Lake Bonney in Taylor Valley. |
|
|
|
Bill has kayaked and backpacked in Alaska, traveled to Hawaii, the Bahamas, Canada, Antarctica, New Zealand, Fiji, the Kingdom of Tonga, and spent a week on the Pacific Ocean traveling from Tonga to New Zealand aboard a Tongan banana boat. Bill has kept journals through most of his experiences - possibly material for future books.
 "Fishing
with the Tongans -- Jim Borchers and I flew from New Zealand to
Fiji where we booked passage on a ship to the Kingdom of Tonga.
We were invited to go fishing with the Tongans. They corral the
fish in big nets that they pull tighter and tighter until the
area is small enough that they can dip the fish out and
into their boats." |
As a boy, Bill worked on the family farm in Pennsylvania taking care of cattle, horses, and other animals as well as general farm work. He has a BS degree in Biology and an MS degree in Environmental Science and Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His favorite hobbies include: writing, reading, Civil War infantry and frontier cavalry reenacting, hiking, and camping.
A member of Western Writers of America and a member of Toastmasters International, Bill is available to talk about Dances With Wolves, the other movies he's worked on, and on reenacting in general. Contact: markley@pie.midco.net
