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Page much the same way that his father had viewed his children's successes. Baker-Shenk recalls that Stokoe gave her "all the support and affirmation I needed to build my confidence. He was in many ways like a father. . . . We could make mistakes with each other, but you always felt that Bill's love for you was unconditional. You don't often find such conditions where you work" 6 Dennis Cokely recalls that Stokoe often brought his home-baked bread and home-brewed beer into the lab "for sampling Harry Markowicz, who joined the lab in 1973, remembers picnics, gatherings, and celebrations of many occasions.
Stokoe often invited his colleagues to his home for dinner, and they frequently went out to lunch together. Bill and Ruth Stokoe,
along with other members of the lab, attended Charlotte Baker-Shenk's wedding. Ina party was held to bid farewell to the lock-changing secretary who had come with Stokoe from the English Department. "We were all rather relieved to see her go,"
Markowicz says, "but there was Bill, sentimental as ever, with tears in his eyes."8
According to Robbin Battison, it was in the lab that Stokoe acquired his "name sign" It is common for deaf people to create name signs to avoid the time-consuming process of fingerspelling. Often, the name sign reflects a significant characteristic of the person. Bill Stokoe's hair is extremely thick in those days, when he didn't have it all cutoff in a crew cut, he often wore it in "a kind of bowl haircut, almost medieval" Battison recalls. "We had a deaf student working with us in the lab, Hedy Udkovich.
One day she referred to Bill by placing her open hand, with all the fingers extended, palm down, on the top of her head so that the fingers drooped over her forehead. That particular name sign stuck, and it's the one Bill still has today."9
Stokoe's youthful appearance has always been a source of amazement to people. Even today he is slim, straight, and strong, with a handsome face many describe as boyish. In 1975, at the age of fifty-six, he prided himself on his ability to beat Baker-Shenk at tennis, particularly since she was "so slim, strong, and athletic, areal California type."10
Stokoe's youthfulness is not limited to his physical appearance. Virginia Volterra, an Italian linguist who has worked and corresponded with Stokoe over the years, recalls that he "was

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