Hackel, William “Bill” John, age 76, of Centreville. It is with great sadness that we announce Bill’s passing from cancer on October 16, 2015 at Valley Regional Hospital, Kentville, with family by his side. Born on August 28, 1939 in Albany, New York, Bill was a son of the late Max and Dorothy Hackel. He learned the watchmaking trade from the family business, J. Max Hackel & Son Jewelers in New York. Bill found his true calling as a carpenter, and became a long-time loyal member of the Local 83 United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiner of America. In 1972, Bill, Patty, and baby Minga immigrated to Nova Scotia, where they lived as back-to-the-land pioneers on 100 acres in Digby County. Eventually moving to the Annapolis Valley, Bill, armed with unstoppable determination, honored his family with a stunning, one-of-a-kind wood and stone 'mansion' on the Centreville mountain, not far from Valley Regional Hospital, which he helped build. From his teens, Bill was a “basketball junkie” who took up with the local b-ball scene wherever he lived, playing with an old-timers league in Wolfville into his mid-sixties. Hardworking, creative, and well-read, Bill had a passion for gardening, building, stonework, woodworking, and physical labour, evident from his rough and scarred hands. In later years, there was golf. Bill is survived by his partner of 47 years, Patty Mintz; his children, Minga Mintz (Norbert Kungl), Wolf (Debra) Hackel, and Caileigh (Bryan) Grant; his grandchildren, Lily, Skyra, Max, Khadija, and Sumaya.