Hundreds of people have received eye exams, prescription glasses and hearing aids because of Billy W. Corts, who led the efforts for the Arlington Heights Lions Club. “He established a rapport with the school nurses with School District 25 and Wheeling Township,” and others, said his wife, Patsy. “He wanted these people to have [glasses and hearing aids]. He knew how much it meant to them, and that is what the Lions Club is all about.” Mr. Corts, 82, of Arlington Heights, died Wednesday, April 27, in Condell Medical Center in Libertyville of heart failure after battling several illnesses, including diabetes, pneumonia and heart problems. Born in Chicago, Mr. Corts graduated from Senn High School and opened a gas station at Montrose and Greenview Avenues. At the start of World War II he enlisted in the Navy and fulfilled a dream of becoming a pilot on an aircraft carrier. After the war, he returned to his gas station and got reacquainted with his neighbor, Patsy, who became his wife in 1948. In 1951 he moved to Arlington Heights and established another gas station in nearby Elk Grove Village. In 1968, he sold the stations and started Bill Corts Distributing, which sold automobile products. He retired in 1986. Shortly after they moved to suburban Chicago, Mr. Corts and his wife set about getting a proper education for their daughters–one of whom is blind, another deaf. The Lions Club offered to equip the classrooms at a Wheeling school. “At that point he got involved with the Lions,” his wife said. Mr. Corts was also an active member of the Arlington Heights Historical Society and the First Presbyterian Church where he was an elder, deacon and trustee. Other survivors include three daughters, Caryn Sorensen, Candace Klein and Cheryl; a sister, Betty Fluegge; and three grandsons. Visitation will be held Sunday from 1:30 to 2 p.m., when the memorial service will begin in First Presbyterian Church of Arlington Heights, 302 N. Dunton Ave., Arlington Heights.
