William (Bill) Laraway was born and raised in Sidney, graduating from Sidney High School in 1950. While a student, Bill was a member of the Student Council, National Honor Society and Model Airplane Club. He was a starting member of the league JV championship basketball team during Coach DeBloom's last year of coaching. Bill lettered in varsity basketball, baseball, and football and earned an All-Star invitation in basketball. Upon graduation Bill was also awarded the Bendix (Scintilla) Engineer's Club Award.
Bill attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for two years, and then transferred to Tri-State College in Indiana to complete his BS degree in Aero Engineering in 1954. While at Tri-State, he became a member of Sigma Phi Delta, an international fraternity for engineering students.
After a short period of employment at Bendix Scintilla, and in a civilian capacity at the Arnold Air Force Base's Arnold Engineering Development Complex, Bill enlisted in the Air Force. He was stationed in Japan, and later Hawaii, as a Statistical Specialist. After his discharge from the service, Bill joined the Von Kaman Gas Dynamics Facility, located at the Arnold Engineering Development Complex in Tullahoma, Tennessee, as a tunnel engineer in the Hypersonic Branch.
At the end of 1967, Bill moved to the Northrup Corp, and started as a supervisor in the Space Chamber Facility at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, at the time when they were preparing for Certification Testing of the Apollo fuel cells for missions to the moon. Bill was promoted to Test Facility Manager and Facility Design Engineer. He was awarded the Apollo Achievement Award by NASA, in appreciation for his dedicated service to the nation as a member of the team which advanced the nation's capabilities in aeronautics and space, culminating in Apollo 11's successful achievement of man's first landing on the moon.
Bill received many awards from NASA including medallions made of metal collected on space voyages, and an appreciation award from the President's Commission for service on the team that investigated and identified the cause of the space shuttle Challenger's accident. The federal government also acknowledged Bill's redesign of a vacuum chamber in the RHTF which saved the government thousands of dollars.
Bill's wife, Jean, passed away twenty-three years ago. He has three children, five grandchildren, seven great grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren. Bill was involved in many community activities, which include managing Little League Teams, coaching Babe Ruth leagues, and holding several offices in his church. He was also president of the Northrup Management Club.