2010 Clan MacLeod Person of the Year, William Giles MacLeod
| A lifetime member of Clan MacLeod USA. For 17 years Bill has performed several functions within Clan. This includes Illinois Commissioner, creator and editor for Clan MacLeod Great Lakes Region website www.clanmacleodgreatlakes.org, Committee Member of the Clan MacLeod 2004 North American Gathering in Chicago. He is also the creator and editor of the Clan MacLeod USA website www.clanmacleodusa.org and serves on the Clan MacLeod USA Council. | |
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As Illinois Commissioner he has been able to double the Illinois Clan membership during his time as commissioner. He has supported the Clan by manning the MacLeod tent at many Highland games not only in Illinois but other states in the Great Lake region. In addition he has supported the Missouri Valley and Upper Midwest regions and attended and worked about six games per season. Bill has attended all the Clan’s Annual General Meetings in their respective Regions including giving workshops at several AGM’s. He has attended Council Meetings in Alexandria Virginia for the last nine years. Bill has attended two Parliaments in Scotland on Skye held every four years. Also attended the World Clan Gathering 2009 that represented 141 clans at Parliament in Edinburgh. The Clan MacLeod Society Meeting held at Parliament was one of the events Bill attended representing the American Society during this session. |
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Bill’s family have been involved with Clan MacLeod USA since it beginnings in the early 1950’s. His Mother and Father were among the first members of the Clan meeting Dame Flora MacLeod during her trips to the US to promote the inauguration of the Clan.
Bill G. or Bill Giles (as he is called in the clan) was born and reared in Quincy, Mass. He has also resided in New Hampshire and Florida. He currently lives in the Chicago area. He has an Engineering Degree from Wentworth institute of Technology and Northeastern University, Boston Mass. He has worked in the Aerospace, Semiconductors and Telecommunication industries as an electronic engineer and manager. He also served in the Air Force reserves for seven years including one year on active duty. Now retired, he continues educational pursuits in Computer Information Technology for website design and digital imaging. This has allowed him to create the present day websites for Clan MacLeod. |
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His Scottish/MacLeod roots extend to his grandfather, Malcolm MacLeod from Prince Edward Island, Canada and his grandmother, Mary Giles from Aberdeen, Scotland. His genealogy reaches back to the Isle of Skye to 1841. He has participated in two DNA genealogy studies. One run by the University of London to determine if the surname MacLeod had Viking roots. The other study was with FamilyTreeDNA, a commercial company based on the MacLeod linkage.
Some of the other Scottish activities that Bill has pursued include: serving on the Board of Governors of the Illinois St Andrew Society, the largest St Andrews Society in the North America with over 1400 members sponsoring a five acre Retirement Home facility. As part of the ISAS he has been a member of the Highland games committee serving in several positions: Co-Chair of the Clans & Organizations and Ancillary Promotions for the Games. He has organized ISAS’s participation/promotion in many events including: St Patrick’s Day parade, LaGrange Pet Parade, Tartan day Parade, Hoffman Estates International Tattoo, Chicago Celtic Festival and Itasca’s 4th of July celebration. He is also the creator and editor of the St. Andrew Society of Aiken, S.C. website. |
We congratulate Bill G. for his years of service to the Clan MacLeod Society and a job well done.