A little help re: William F Illig

[Frankie Vegas]

I am hoping someone will be able to help me find a death notice or obituary for William F Illig, Erie, Pennsylvania. He worked at MacDonald, Illig, Jones and Britton law firm.

Thank you in advance.

[Frankie Vegas]

Was this Burkley's lawyer?

Yes. I am interested in finding who is the executor of his estate. I can't seem to find a death notice anywhere. I do think this is due to my search abilities. (lack of)

[Frankie Vegas]

SInce Erie is my hometown, I can tell you that the two best places to go are

1. The Erie Public Library

2. The Times News office, which is the local paper.

You can try emailing them or calling them tomorrow.

BTW, that firm he worked for is not just the biggest in the city, its the biggest in the whole Northwest region of the state.

Thank you so much. I will get on to it ASAP. I hope that since they have such a large firm the records and files will be well maintained. Due to space and cost some firms destroy thier files after x amount of years.

Once again, thank you.

[Frankie Vegas]

Wow, thank you! This has been such an amazing help. I will let you know how I get on....

[John Dolva]

William F. Illig, (1946-1989) Office: Erie, Pennsylvania

http://www.martindale.com/MacDonald-Illig-Jones-Britton/1110990-law-firm-1518159-people.htm

[William Kelly]

William F. Illig, (1946-1989) Office: Erie, Pennsylvania

http://www.martindal...8159-people.htm

I've been down this road before.

I couldn't get any response from that law office after many tries and just gave up.

Best bet is to ask for Jim's contact.

BK

[Frankie Vegas]

Thank you John.

William, I had the feeling you would have tried this too. I am just waiting for the right time to ring from New Zealand.

I will ask for Jim's contact and explain the background and importance of the files (if any are there).

I have been going down the road of contacting the Denlea family, but no response, which is what I had expected. I also had some advice from legal council in the states about going through the courts if I can get no response anywhere. I will have to prove that these files are important to history.

Also been reading up on historian's access to the files of lawyers. While it is a little vague and the laws are still kind of under disscussion it has been very helpful.

I will let you all know how it goes, fingers crossed.

[William Kelly]

Thank you John.

William, I had the feeling you would have tried this too. I am just waiting for the right time to ring from New Zealand.

I will ask for Jim's contact and explain the background and importance of the files (if any are there).

I have been going down the road of contacting the Denlea family, but no response, which is what I had expected. I also had some advice from legal council in the states about going through the courts if I can get no response anywhere. I will have to prove that these files are important to history.

Also been reading up on historian's access to the files of lawyers. While it is a little vague and the laws are still kind of under disscussion it has been very helpful.

I will let you all know how it goes, fingers crossed.

I think the daughter - the daughter of the doctor or the lawyer, but a daughter is of key signifance - and she controlls whether the info is released or not.

BK

Edited August 16, 2010 by William Kelly

[William Kelly]

Thank you John.

William, I had the feeling you would have tried this too. I am just waiting for the right time to ring from New Zealand.

I will ask for Jim's contact and explain the background and importance of the files (if any are there).

I have been going down the road of contacting the Denlea family, but no response, which is what I had expected. I also had some advice from legal council in the states about going through the courts if I can get no response anywhere. I will have to prove that these files are important to history.

Also been reading up on historian's access to the files of lawyers. While it is a little vague and the laws are still kind of under disscussion it has been very helpful.

I will let you all know how it goes, fingers crossed.

I think the daughter - the daughter of the doctor or the lawyer, but a daughter is of key signifance - and she controlls whether the info is released or not.

BK

Oh, yea,

and another thing,

Tony Summers once talked about the ability of someone to actually convince strangers to confide in them, a inate and intinuitive sensativity that makes people believe that you will do the right thing with the information that they are given.

He had an Irish word for it - but I forget what it is, but it's not something tangible that you can put your finger on - but something people sense when you are questioning them - and a trust and belief that witnesses put in those who they confide in.

I don't know if this will apply in this case, but I think that the good doctor had faith in the lawyer that he confided in, and that the daughter should respect the wishes of the source to get this information out, and it is a matter of approach, as to whether or not they will trust you.

I also think there are referencs to this in the Final Report of the ARRB.

BK

[William Kelly]

Thank you John.

William, I had the feeling you would have tried this too. I am just waiting for the right time to ring from New Zealand.

I will ask for Jim's contact and explain the background and importance of the files (if any are there).

I have been going down the road of contacting the Denlea family, but no response, which is what I had expected. I also had some advice from legal council in the states about going through the courts if I can get no response anywhere. I will have to prove that these files are important to history.

Also been reading up on historian's access to the files of lawyers. While it is a little vague and the laws are still kind of under disscussion it has been very helpful.

I will let you all know how it goes, fingers crossed.

I think the daughter - the daughter of the doctor or the lawyer, but a daughter is of key signifance - and she controlls whether the info is released or not.

BK

Oh, yea,

and another thing,

Tony Summers once talked about the ability of someone to actually convince strangers to confide in them, a inate and intinuitive sensativity that makes people believe that you will do the right thing with the information they give you.

He had an Irish word for it - but I forget what it is, but it's not something tangible that you can put your finger on - but something people sense when you are questioning them - and a trust and belief that witnesses put in those who they confide in.

I don't know if this will apply in this case, but I think that the good doctor had faith in the lawyer that he confided in, and that the daughter should respect the wishes of the source to get this information out, and it is a matter of approach, as to whether or not they will trust you.

I also think there are referencs to this in the Final Report of the ARRB.

BK

Edited August 16, 2010 by William Kelly

[Frankie Vegas]

Thank you John.

William, I had the feeling you would have tried this too. I am just waiting for the right time to ring from New Zealand.

I will ask for Jim's contact and explain the background and importance of the files (if any are there).

I have been going down the road of contacting the Denlea family, but no response, which is what I had expected. I also had some advice from legal council in the states about going through the courts if I can get no response anywhere. I will have to prove that these files are important to history.

Also been reading up on historian's access to the files of lawyers. While it is a little vague and the laws are still kind of under disscussion it has been very helpful.

I will let you all know how it goes, fingers crossed.

I think the daughter - the daughter of the doctor or the lawyer, but a daughter is of key signifance - and she controlls whether the info is released or not.

BK

Unfortunately Nancy Burkley Denlea (George Burkley's daughter) passed on in 2002. I have had a friend in L.A search the probate courts to see who she may have passed the waiver rights onto, and who the executor of her estate would be (my guess was her husband). I have written to her husband, but no reply. Also the probate courts had my friend pay to have the files searched and said they would post out the info. This was aprox 2 months ago, and still no word.

It occured to me the other night that the Burkley/Denlea family want to just stay away from the whole thing, which I find understandable as Dr Burkley was a great man and had a pretty unblemished work record apart from this. The law firm should have less emptional attachment to the situation and understand (I hope) that these files could add to the historical truth of the situation.

I am unsure at this point if Mr Illig had children and/or if they would be able to sign a waiver to have any of his old work files released.

[Frankie Vegas]

Thank you John.

William, I had the feeling you would have tried this too. I am just waiting for the right time to ring from New Zealand.

I will ask for Jim's contact and explain the background and importance of the files (if any are there).

I have been going down the road of contacting the Denlea family, but no response, which is what I had expected. I also had some advice from legal council in the states about going through the courts if I can get no response anywhere. I will have to prove that these files are important to history.

Also been reading up on historian's access to the files of lawyers. While it is a little vague and the laws are still kind of under disscussion it has been very helpful.

I will let you all know how it goes, fingers crossed.

I think the daughter - the daughter of the doctor or the lawyer, but a daughter is of key signifance - and she controlls whether the info is released or not.

BK

Oh, yea,

and another thing,

Tony Summers once talked about the ability of someone to actually convince strangers to confide in them, a inate and intinuitive sensativity that makes people believe that you will do the right thing with the information they give you.

He had an Irish word for it - but I forget what it is, but it's not something tangible that you can put your finger on - but something people sense when you are questioning them - and a trust and belief that witnesses put in those who they confide in.

I don't know if this will apply in this case, but I think that the good doctor had faith in the lawyer that he confided in, and that the daughter should respect the wishes of the source to get this information out, and it is a matter of approach, as to whether or not they will trust you.

I also think there are referencs to this in the Final Report of the ARRB.

BK

Thanks Bill, I have been writing notes on how I will aproach the situation, and lists of questions I will ask. I was brought up to be very polite so I don't think that will be a problem. I have also contacted The Mary Ferrel Foundation about taking the records if they are released. Thank you for the info on the ARRB. I will most definatly look this up before I make any moves.

[Frankie Vegas]

I rung Mr Spoden this morning, introduced myself and explained a little of the background of why I was calling. (mentioning Jim, thanks for that).

Unfortunatley Mr Spoden said he could not tell me if Mr Illig's files were still there.

I also think he may have had a hard time understanding my accent.

I will hunt out a death notice for Mr Illig and find his executor. I also plan to follow up my call with Mr Spoden with an email. Also waiting for the probate courts Re: Nancy Burkley Denlea's executor.

Thanks all for your help.

[Frankie Vegas]

I have news, but it's not the news we wanted. I finally got an answer from the Illig law firm via snail mail. They have informed me that all of Dr Burkley's files were destroyed more than 20 years ago.

Dr Burkley's legal files would have been amazing if they had still existed. His integrity as a witness would be very hard to call into question. I guess I'm 20 years too late.

Big thanks to Bill Kelly, Jim DiEngenio, Canadian Cinderelly, Greg Parker, and Steve Duffy for helping out and giving advice on a 3 year journey for a simple answer.

[William Kelly]

Thanks for pursing this. Could you send a snail mail response to Illig's law firm asking who was responsible for ordering Dr. Burkley's files destroyed?

Those related to JFK should have been public records owned by the government - (ie. American people) and not subject to being destroyed by anyone.

Thanks,

BK

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