Bill Bolima Escaped A Troubled Childhood

The year was 1955. Bill Bolima had bounced from state to state, growing up with various relatives, changing schools nearly two dozen times by the ninth grade.

Bolima found himself on the fringes of Seattle's Yesler Terrace, running with other unruly young toughs. His crimes - shoplifting, burglary, auto theft - are mild compared to what some teens are charged with these days.

But, by age 15, Bolima was sentenced to Green Hill School in Chehalis, a juvenile institution from which he ultimately escaped.

Forty years later, Bolima has willingly found his way back. This time around, he wears no uniform and is serving no sentence. This time, the 56-year-old Seattle businessman is trying to be a role model for kids young enough to be his grandchildren.

Bolima got his act together, became a computer-assisted draftsman and founded his own business. Now his firm is helping to redesign the juvenile institution where he served time.

His aim: to provide living, breathing, working proof that no matter how deep the hole kids dig for themselves, they can climb out.

Most of his street buddies wound up in trouble with the law. Many died from abusing drugs or from violence.

Only a small circle knows about his rough background. He volunteered to share his story with Green Hill youths to give them hope.

"I knew I was doing wrong, but I just didn't care," he said. "The kids of today, they're just like I was. . . . Eventually, a

time will come when these kids will care, and it will be too late."

Bolima was born in California but frequently migrated to Washington. He's part Filipino, part German and part Alaskan Native.

"I didn't grow up in any culture but poverty and trouble," he said.

His first brush with crime came at age 14. By then, he was sullen and indifferent, not even bothering to make friends at school because he knew he'd soon leave.

Convictions led to serving time in King County juvenile detention. There, he tried to escape.

The attempt got him transferred to Green Hill, where Bolima did escape. He was free for three weeks.

Arrested in downtown Seattle, Bolima was transferred to adult court and held at the King County jail.

A judge gave him two choices: adult prison or the military. Bolima chose the Air Force, but he didn't leave behind his errant ways.

Twice, he was court-martialed. Air Force disciplinarians took away his stripes and sentenced him to 200 days of hard labor. Then came his moment of clarity.

"I knew (being a trouble-maker) wasn't worth it," he said. "I didn't want to do it anymore."

He was honorably discharged three years later.

Bolima found work but nothing meaningful until he began computer-assisted designing at age 26. It became a 30-year career. Eight years ago, he founded TDX Inc., near the Pike Place Market.

Green Hill School Superintendent Art Schmidt said sometimes former residents with success stories return to share them, such as youths who graduated from high school and found jobs.

"That's rewarding when it happens. It doesn't happen real often - or as often as we'd like to see it," Schmidt said. "The younger those folks are, the more they're going to relate to our kids. But there's also some wisdom the older folks can bring."