Bill Eisenlauer East High School Alumni

Story/G. Lopez

East High School alumni, father, husband, grandfather, retired real estate agent, well known pillar of the community, you may know him as Bill Eisenlauer.

Tell me about your family?

He has a sister eight years younger than him. His mom, dad and sister all attended and graduated East. Bill is married to his wife Myrna Eisenlauer, he is a father of three, took another child in under his wing, making him a father of four.

Where are you from and where did you grow up?

Bill was born in Iowa Falls a “tiny town 100 miles west,” Eisenlauer said. He later moved to Des Moines when he was just in kindergarten, because bill’s father was big on having him attend East.

What was it like growing up on the East side?

Bill enjoyed growing up on the East side because all his friends were East siders, as were his relatives. “It was wonderful, I loved growing up on the East side,” Eisenlauer said. Bill and his friends always went by this saying “Lee Township against the world,” the reason for this saying was because there was a printing store on East university, a friend of his owned it and it was called “Lee Township news”, but not only Bill and his friends say that a lot of the community on the East side would say “Lee Township against the world”.

Were you involved in any sports or clubs?

Bill was involved with many sports and clubs. He played football, wresting, baseball, key club and was vice president of the city student council junior and senior year.

How did East shape you?

“Everything in my life was because of East, East taught me to get along with different minorities. I wasn’t used to it till I went to East, it educated me about the different minorities.” Bill is thankful for the teachers at East during his time because not only did they shake him if he got out of line, but they were his friends as well. “They shaped me as a good person,” Eisenlauer said.

What was your time like at East?

“Every day was like a party for me,” Eisenlauer said. Seeing all his friends, teachers, girlfriends and just everybody you knew was there because at that time East was I think, the biggest school in the state, leaving my class with 500 kids, I liked them all, I wanted to be friends with them all.” Bill enjoyed every minute he had at East. He also had a good coach. “He was a good football coach he had been there for 40 plus years, he was a good man, shaped us kids on the football field,” Eisenlauer said.

What did you pursue after East?

Bill attended Grandview college after graduating East in 1971. After college his wife Myrna and him owned a restaurant for a few years, the restaurant’s name was named after his nick name in high school, Muggsy’s, so they called it “Muggsy’s corner café.” Myrna was the cook and he was the waiter. “She was the real good cook and we had a lot of people coming in, special’s every day, people would come from all over the place to get her special’s.” During owning the café, they would always see these men, realtors “they were dresses nice, always looked like a fun job.” Owning a restaurant was a lot of work, it didn’t really work out. Bill was always interested in selling stuff, didn’t know for sure, but always thought one of these days he would be a salesman like the men that came into his café, being a salesman he could sell houses. Soon, he became a real estate agent.

Why did you become a real estate agent, and for how long?

He knew a lot of people on the East side, he wanted to purse selling houses and with him already knowing a lot of people on the East side. “In order to sell things its good to have a clientele, lucky I fell into it,” Eisenlauer said. Fell into the real estate business in 1976 and was a real estate agent for 40 plus years, currently retired but his wife Myrna is still in the business along with his son Bob Eisenlauer.

Any advice to students soon to be graduates?

“Stay with all your friends that are at your school now, make sure to stay in contact with them throughout your life. Help them when they need help and when you need help make sure to reach out to them to get help, that’s the problem now is that we don’t like to reach out and admit that we need help,” Eisenlauer said.

How are you still involved with East even as an alumni?

“I go to all the events they have every year, they have a big event in which all the graduates come back. Whenever I can I like to volunteer, I have helped out a few times,” Eisenlauer said. He also enjoys going to football games and cheering on the scarlets. “Whenever I can help, I look and see if there’s ways we can help because I enjoy helping out there.” Bill’s friends are still involved with East, they became lawyers, doctors and the most proudest jobs, they give all the credit to East for providing the education they needed to be successful. On the second-floor wall you can catch a picture of Bill on the wall of fame for “service of humanity”. Bill’s quote is “we’re in it for the service of humanity” and still loves that quote to this day.

Bill is always there supporting his family through all, achievements big and small.

You can catch Bill spending time with family, having fun.