Willie Milroy Hamilton, 69

DOVER - Willie Milroy Hamilton of Dover died Saturday March 10, 2007, at home after a lengthy illness. He was 69.

He was born in Bridgeville in 1937 to Helen Waters and the late Willie Hamilton.

He attended and graduated from William C. Jason High School in the class of 1956.

Mr. Hamilton was the founder and manager of the Vibratones dance band that played all over the Eastern Shore during the 1950s and 1960s. People would travel the shore for miles to hear his band and him playing the saxophone. One of their favorite songs was composed by Willie, entitled "Willie's Dreams."

He enjoyed traveling as a bus driver for the Greyhound bus company and was a supervisor on the Pullman dining car for Amtrak.

Mr. Hamilton served in the Air Force and was honorably discharged.

Enrichment from his travels allowed him to speak German very fluently.

For many years he lived in Philadelphia until 1995, when he decided to move back to Delaware to be closer to his family.

Mr. Hamilton was preceded in death by his wife, Georgia Egerson Hamilton, in 1993.

He is survived by a son, Willie E. Hamilton of Darby, Pa.; a daughter, Donnita Hamilton of Philadelphia; one grandchild; mother and stepfather, Helen W. and Louis Grinnage of Bridgeville; one brother, Emanuel T. Hamilton of Magnolia; and two sisters, Florence Goldsborough of Dover and B. Lorraine Hamilton of Magnolia.

Services will be held Saturday at noon in Calvary Baptist Church, Queen and Fulton streets, Dover.

Friends may call the church two hours prior to service.

The Rev. Jerome Carey will officiate.

Arrangements by Miller Funeral Services.