of Arlington, AR

October 11, 1946 - June 13, 2019

William Rowland ''Bill'' Mettler, Sr., of Arlington, Tenn., passed away on Thursday, June 13th, 2019 at the age of 72. He is survived by his wife of 35 years, Barbara Ann ''Susie'' (Archibald) Mettler, also of Arlington. He is also survived by his son, William Rowland ''Willie'' Mettler, Jr., of Memphis, Tenn., as well as his five grandchildren: Kody McClung, Sarah ''Brenden'' Johnson, Jessie, Jacob and Amaya Mettler. He is survived by five great-grandchildren, Addie, Charlie, Georgia, Skylar and Elizabeth Johnson
He is survived by his sister-in-law, Pamela Lynn (Archibald) Winkle, of Hornersville, Mo., and her husband, Monte Kim Winkle, Bill's brother-in-law, also of Hornersville.
He is survived by three nephews: Charles Gene ''Bud'' Winkle, of Hornersville, Mo.; Jason Lynn Winkle, of Senath, Mo.; and Zachary Jacob Winkle, his wife Haley Elizabeth (Morrow) Winkle, and their daughter Emma Reece Winkle, both also of Senath.
He was preceded in death by his parents: his father, Charles Robert Mettler, of Memphis, Tenn., and his mother, Pearl Lucille (Marrs) Mettler, also of Memphis.
The last of nine children, he was preceded in death by eight siblings: John Robert Mettler, Juanita Gayle (Mettler) Smith; Lila Geneva (Mettler) Longo, Robert ''Buddy'' Mettler, Imogene ''Tootsie'' (Mettler) Morgan, Charles Roy Mettler, and Samuel Ronald Mettler.
He was also preceded in death by one granddaughter, Lexie Mettler, of Indianapolis, Ind.; his father-in-law, Donald Gene Archibald, of Hornersville, Mo.; and his mother-in-law, Carol Sue (West) Archibald, also of Hornersville.
A graveside service will be held at Gibson Bayou Cemetery in Earle, Ark. on Wednesday June 19, 2019 at 11:00 am with visitation beginning at 10:00 am.
Born on October, 11, 1946 in Gilmore, Ark., Bill grew up in Turrell, Ark., where he worked on the farm with his father. After graduating high school from East High School in Memphis, Tenn., he was drafted into the Army in January of 1967, entering with the rank of private E-1 and serving three years in the Vietnam War, obtaining the rank of sergeant E-5, before his honorable discharged in September of 1969. During his time in the Army, he served as a medic, where he recalled delivering a Vietnamese baby. He also served as a payroll clerk. For his service, he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Medal and the Vietnam Service Medal.
Bill did not give many details about his experiences in Vietnam, but his family respected his privacy and never pressed for any more details than he wanted to give. From what little he said, he was in a very bad place, as so many of our Vietnam veterans so often were. After making it through Vietnam, Bill returned home and went on to obtain a bachelor's degree in accounting from Memphis State University on the GI Bill. It would turn out to be a degree he never used, having gone on to graduate school with the intention of obtaining a Batchelor's degree in computer programming. He was only a few hours short of his master's., however, he never found the time to complete this degree.
Bill used the training he had to get a job as a computer programmer at Mid-Continent, a trucking company based in West Memphis, Ark. It was there where he met his wife Susie, who worked as a fuel tax clerk and was 12 years his junior.
The year 1982 was a pivotal year for Bill. It was then that he founded DeSoto Systems, a computer programming firm named after the county where it was initially located, DeSoto, Miss. Stationary for the business sometimes included a picture of a vintage Chrysler DeSoto automobile.
It was also in 1982 when Bill and Susie found the house on Devine St. in
Bartlett, Tenn. while taking a ride on Bill's motorcycle ride which would serve as their home for over the next thirty years.
After dating for three years, the couple married on December 10th, 1983 at the First United Methodist Church in Susie's hometown of Hornersville, Mo. Susie's oldest nephew Bud was ten months old at the time and served as ring bearer. It was at their wedding that he took his first steps.
Despite the occasional ups and downs present in any marriage, disagreements were temporary, and become less frequent as he and his wife mellowed with age. Susie was the world he revolved around. Not only did they love each other, but they stayed in love. It was something you could tell, too.
The two settled into their home on Devine St. in Bartlett, while Bill continued to grow the computer programming business that would become his life's work, and provide a great living for him and his family. There he created operating systems used for business, which evolved later on to include the building of websites.
At Desoto Systems, Bill began the practice of hiring employees right out of college and giving them the further training they needed to do the job he needed them to do. It was a practice he continued throughout over thirty years in business. Many young men and a few young women got their start with him. He also had employees that interned for him, coordinating their projects with their professors. Though at times sporadic, he stayed in touch with many of his old employees, many of whom recognized the start Bill gave them and were thankful for it.
Bill was highly intelligent, and at times a workaholic working late and sometimes at home if necessary to complete certain projects. (This applied to the house on Devine St. His home in Arlington has a separate building for the garage with an office upstairs.) Though there were no doubt times he didn't want to get up and go to work, for the most part he enjoyed his profession and the business it allowed him to build, giving life to the old adage that if you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life.
Bill became a grandfather when his son Willie went on to have six children of his own, and then three great-grandchildren, in addition to innumerable nieces and nephews.
In addition to Willie, Bill and Susie had three surrogate children in their nephews Bud, Jason and Zach, the three children belonging to Susie's sister, Pam. The three enjoyed frequent visits to their aunt and uncle's house every year during summer and Christmas vacation, not to mention camping trips to Spring River in Hardy, Ark. and lake trips to Mountain Home, Ark.
In 1996, Bill and his wife realized a lifelong dream of building a swimming pool at their home on Devine St., despite the fact Bill couldn't swim. This harkened back to an incident from Bill's youth when he had a leg cramp while swimming and drifted repeatedly under water, only to push himself up again and again with what little strength remained in his legs when he reached bottom to break the surface and get air. He would've drowned if his friend hadn't seen him.
Though never wading past the point he could touch bottom, Bill only occasionally got in. The pool was mainly built for the enjoyment of his wife and extended family: son, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. It was one of the many spoils of hard work and came in handy after the loss of his wife's father, who passed away in March of 2000.
As patriarch of the family, Susie's father Gene Archibald spearheaded lake outings to Norfork Lake in Mountain Home, Ark. for all the major summer holidays Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day. When he was gone, the family went to the lake once, but it just wasn't the same without him. Regardless, the family persevered and a new status quo soon emerged: family gatherings around the pool in the backyard at Bill and Susie's. Bill handled the barbecue.
In 2013, after a little over thirty years in the house on Devine St., Bill and his wife were able to fulfill another lifelong dream of building their dream home in Arlington, Tenn. Just like the first one, it was equipped with the prerequisites it also had a swimming pool.
Bill was many things. He was a tobacco aficionado who loved to smoke cigars and who loved to smoke a pipe. He was fond of sweet smelling tobaccos that would linger anywhere in the house he had been. He also had an abiding interest in the Civil War, and at least twice had read Shelby Foote's massive three volume narrative of nearly 3,000 pages.
Bill was a great story teller. Possessed of a mannerism where he would get real quiet, he would tell all kinds of stories, ranging from people he'd known to medical issues he'd had to his many adventures in business, among others.
John Wayne was also one of his favorites, but even more than John Wayne, Bill was a fan of Clint Eastwood. If he was flipping through channels and came across a movie with Clint Eastwood, you'd better be ready to watch it. He was even a fan of the films he would direct in the latter, more recent stage of his career. He preferred the hard boiled westerns of Clint Eastwood, or if not that, Dirty Harry.
An animal lover, Bill was preceded in death by many dogs and cats, the most recent a stray that wondered up the house that he named Bud, and his wife's Chihuahua Bunny, so named after her floppy, rabbit-like ears. He is survived by five animals a Chihuahua named Lulu, and four cats: Willow, Tiger, Andy and Lucky.
Bill's life might not have been perfect, but after serving his country and making it through Vietnam, he was able to rise above his rural beginnings with the help of the GI Bill to get the training and skills he needed to achieve what so many want, but so seldom obtain: the American dream.
He had the same ups and downs as anyone, but was able to survive and live a good life that had an impact and made a difference to the people who loved him.

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