Billy Farris remembered

The first child that Joe Garagiola Sr. met on a visit to St. Peter's Mission School 15 years ago was a skinny 5-year-old named Billy Farris.

The little boy wanted to talk to the former baseball player and Hall of Fame broadcaster because one of the nuns had told him that Garagiola had been a professional player.

"Maybe I'll be a ballplayer, too," the boy said.

St. Peter's Mission School is about 35 miles south of Phoenix within the Gila River Indian Community. In those days, Sister Martha Carpenter and the handful of other Franciscan nuns who ran St. Peter's struggled to keep their school going. The roofs were in disrepair. Supplies were limited. The convent where the nuns lived was in danger of collapse.

Things began to turn around when Sister Martha, who was born and raised in Wisconsin and is a lifelong Green Bay Packers fan, developed a relationship with Bill Bidwill, owner of the Arizona Cardinals. Within a short time, Bidwill had replaced the roofs and had brought in other members of the community to help the sisters.

Garagiola was among them. It was Sister Martha who introduced Billy to Joe.

"Bill was just a skinny little boy who was always around us," she said. "I told him that Joe knew a lot about baseball, and Billy said that he wanted to learn. He and Joe talked. About a week later, Joe came down again and asked me where Billy was. He had a bat, ball and glove for him. Ever since then, Bill has been a big baseball fan, and we'd let Joe know how he was doing. Like when he graduated from eighth grade."

Billy didn't grow up to be a ballplayer. He became a soldier. And, earlier this month, he was killed in Iraq when a bomb exploded near the vehicle in which he was a passenger. He was 20.

"After I spoke the first time to Liz and Larry (Billy's parents), I called Joe and told him," Sister Martha said. "We cried."

Garagiola was on his way to an out-of-town funeral on Friday when I caught up to him.

"It's been a tough week," he said. "I remember Billy because he was the first one I met. He was something. You see those kids down there, and they have so much promise, and it just breaks your heart to have a thing like this happen."

Garagiola drove down to the reservation to speak personally with Farris' parents. According to Sister Martha, Billy was born in Wyoming and was Cheyenne and Arapaho.

"He's not Pima by blood, but he is a son of Gila River," she said. "And the community always has embraced him. And is doing so now."

At the mission school, the nuns teach children about the proud tradition established by tribal members who have served in the military. Men like Ira Hayes, who was among those who raised the flag on Iwo Jima during World War II.

"Billy was proud of what he was doing," Sister Martha said. "The boys in the school admire those who have gone before them. This was Billy's career. In November, he was Soldier of the Month in his unit."

He was hoping to make sergeant soon.

"When I was 20, I was on top of the world," Garagiola said. "I was playing for my hometown team (in St. Louis.) We'd won the World Series (in 1946). That's what life should be like at 20."

One of the nuns at the mission has been checking the U.S. Defense Department's Web site and, according to Sister Martha, learned that Billy, who will be buried today, was the 3,143rd American to die in the war.

"That's his number," Sister Martha said. "All the other numbers of his life are small."

For instance, on Jan. 25, Billy Farris would have turned 21.

From the Republic

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