Jun 14, 2020 4 min read

Bill’s Furniture was going to shut down Friday. Not now.

“We’re going to reopen (Wednesday) and I’ll be here half the time the next few weeks. I’ll be delivering furniture for a month, I’m sure,” Bill Howard said over the phone.

COVID-19-related delays of furniture means “some stuff still has to be delivered” to their store at 810 Broad St. in Washington, Howard said.

“I don’t know when I’m going to retire,” he said.

He owns the store he started 61 years ago, as a Wash High student striving to earn money for college, but who ended up running the place through 12 presidential administrations – Eisenhower to Trump. His wife, Charlotte, runs the facility with him.

Store shopping hours ended at 5 p.m. Friday, but Bill’s will still operate to provide items customers ordered and paid for, but have not received. A truck delivering living room sets was to arrive during the week of June 7, but was delayed a week.

“The virus held everybody back and we understand that,” Charlotte said.

The pandemic, however, had no impact on the Howards’ decision to close around mid-year.

“We had all intentions of closing before this hit,” she said. “If the virus didn’t come, we probably would have closed before June.”

Bill’s did shut down for more than two months, after Gov. Tom Wolf in mid-March ordered closures of businesses determined to be nonlife-sustaining. The store reopened recently and sold much of its remaining stock, Charlotte said, adding the virus did not have a significant impact on business.

Bill Howard launched Bill’s in 1959, at his father’s urging, in the back of the family home – which is now used for storage. The owner said he has sold U.S. Army surplus and other items, but furniture has always been the staple.

“My dad did more to start it than I did,” Bill said. “The idea was for me to get money for college, and I was making more money than he did at the mill. He was a better salesman than me. He’d pick up furniture, get back to the store and sell it immediately.”

The Howards, who have been married for 53 years, reside in South Strabane Township. After more than a half-century as partners at home and the store, retirement is ahead.

“It’s been a good run for us,” Charlotte said. “We’ve had a lot of repeat customers and referrals. But we’re both in our 70s. It’s time.”

Ambulance service founder honored

For 58 years, Billie Jane Morris has been saving lives with Washington Ambulance & Chair Service. She was a mere 19-year-old when she recognized a need for quick response to medical emergencies, and founded the Washington-based organization.

Now it was her turn to be recognized.

Washington County commissioners last month honored her with a Certificate of Recognition “for being a pioneer and trailblazer in the EMS industry in Washington County.” The certificate went on to say “your dedication, loyalty, commitment and integrity are to be commended, and you have clearly impacted the lives of many.”

The COVID-19 pandemic prevented Morris from attending the board’s meeting and the proclamation had to be mailed to her.

Commission vice chairman Larry Maggi read the proclamation into the record, and he signed the certificate along with chair Diana Irey Vaughan and commissioner Nick Sherman.

Morris is president of Washington Ambulance & Chair, which responds to medical emergencies throughout county 24/7.

A mother of three, she started Ambulance & Chair with the intent of working from home – which she did diligently. Morris answered emergency calls at her house for 19 years, and to ensure she wouldn’t miss any, she connected the phone lines to bells she set up above her bed and outside the house.

Anova

Anova Hospice, a division of Anova Health Care System, has been named a 2020 Hospice Honors recipient by HEALTHCAREfirst, a leading provider of billing and coding services, CAHPS surveys and advanced analytics.

Anova Hospice & Palliative Care LLC has offices in Charleroi.

The Hospice Honors program, according to a news release, recognizes hospices that “provide the highest level of quality as measured from the caregiver’s point of view.”