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Creator
Bill Reyes
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New Jersey, NY
United States
About Bill
June 9th, 1934 - November 1st, 2023
After high school, he served in the U.S. Army for 3 years. He was stationed in Okinawa for at least part of that time. During his service, he learned ping pong and that became a hobby of his for many years. Later, when he lived in California, he was the state champion ping pong player. For many years, Bill did a lot of traveling and visited many countries around the world including Israel. He worked for the U.S. Postal Service and retired from that job 33 years ago. After retiring, playing the game of bridge became his hobby. He met people through bridge games and even attended conventions devoted to this game. When Bill’s memory was not good enough to continue playing bridge, he turned to origami. He remembered learning the origami crane from a hostess on one of his flights from Japan to NYC.
Bill started doing origami around 2001 when he was in his 60’s. Early on, he attended the OrigamiUSA Convention. There he met Dorothy (Dottie) Kaplan; she was a teacher in one of the classes that Bill attended. This was quite fortuitous; Bill lived near Dorothy in New Jersey and she invited him to her home each week to do origami. Bill’s favorite models were animals and geometric models from one sheet of paper. At some point, Dorothy ran a regional origami group that met in a local library and Bill attended those monthly meetings. For many years, Bill folded models and gave them away. He was not highly prolific as a creator, designing around ten in total, mostly geometric.
After high school, he served in the U.S. Army for 3 years. He was stationed in Okinawa for at least part of that time. During his service, he learned ping pong and that became a hobby of his for many years. Later, when he lived in California, he was the state champion ping pong player. For many years, Bill did a lot of traveling and visited many countries around the world including Israel. He worked for the U.S. Postal Service and retired from that job 33 years ago. After retiring, playing the game of bridge became his hobby. He met people through bridge games and even attended conventions devoted to this game. When Bill’s memory was not good enough to continue playing bridge, he turned to origami. He remembered learning the origami crane from a hostess on one of his flights from Japan to NYC.
Bill started doing origami around 2001 when he was in his 60’s. Early on, he attended the OrigamiUSA Convention. There he met Dorothy (Dottie) Kaplan; she was a teacher in one of the classes that Bill attended. This was quite fortuitous; Bill lived near Dorothy in New Jersey and she invited him to her home each week to do origami. Bill’s favorite models were animals and geometric models from one sheet of paper. At some point, Dorothy ran a regional origami group that met in a local library and Bill attended those monthly meetings. For many years, Bill folded models and gave them away. He was not highly prolific as a creator, designing around ten in total, mostly geometric.
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