After Surviving Myriad Health Issues,

Local Attorney Gets Back To Business

By John Voket

Up until he hit his late 60s, the most exciting things in attorney Bill Denlinger’s life involved supporting his family and watching his children grow into a trio of attorneys and a bank officer — all with wonderful families and successful careers of their own.

Of course, there were also those few exciting occasions back in the service when Mr Denlinger, then an Army officer, would command the security detail overseeing Fort Knox — but that is a story for another day.

The longtime Newtowner, who is known to his friends and clients as Bill, but whose given name is Sutherland, sat behind his desk in a sparsely furnished office just across from the flag pole one recent morning. Reflecting on what he remembers of the whirlwind of health issues he recently survived to be able to celebrate the reopening of his law practice, Mr Denlinger frequently attributed his recovery to the devoted support of his wife, Pat, and his children, Carly, James, Julie, and Diane.

After several decades honing his skills in all facets of the law and generally taking on most cases that came his way as a classic small town lawyer, Mr Denlinger became something of a specialist in land use issues, claiming to have lost few, if any, of the cases for the clients he represented in that arena.

He also served the community in elected and voluntary capacities — often simultaneously. He has been active with the local Lions Club for decades, serving as its president for two years.

“I enjoy the combination of hands-on and fundraising the Lions do,” Mr Denlinger said. “From fixing up Orchard Hill Park to helping someone every year with a major home repair project, it gives you a chance to really give back.”

He also served a year-and-a-half term with the Legislative Council, was appointed to the Newtown Parks & Recreation Commission for ten years, before being repeatedly elected to a decadelong stretch on the Board of Education.

Ten-Year Rule

Those last two strikingly similar periods of service were not coincidental, however.

“I have a self-imposed ten-year rule,” he said. “I think after ten years doing the same thing, you can start to become more of a problem than a solution.”

But as he approached his 70th birthday, slowly and imperceptibly at first, Mr Denlinger’s behavior started to shift. What was first believed to be the onset of dementia was eventually tied to liver disease that was increasingly producing dangerous toxins that were circulating through his body.

For a period he was under constant care, and when his wife was called away or had to leave him to attend to appointments or shopping, Mr Denlinger was left under the watchful eye of close friends. During that period, he also learned he would require a liver transplant to survive.

Enter daughter Julie, a qualified match. Now, looking back on that situation, Bill Denlinger credits his daughter’s living donation and the ordeal of preparing for and recovering from donor surgery with giving him a new lease on life.

Thanks to her selfless gift, the Denlingers began to see almost immediately that “the confusion and dementia were clearing up,” he said, adding almost as an afterthought: “And if it hadn’t been for the liver transplant, they wouldn’t have found the lung cancer.”

Indeed, during a routine post-transplant checkup, Mr Denlinger said spots turned up that were quickly diagnosed as lung cancer. So after the ordeal of his liver disease and transplant recovery, he dusted himself off and launched into a regiment of chemotherapy.

Today, Mr Denlinger said he has been pronounced cancer-free. And since his diagnosis and recovery, he has also undergone a successful hernia procedure, and cataract surgery.

‘We Can Rebuild Him’

Feeling somewhat like the 1970s television bionic man, Steve Austin, the retired attorney who in the interim had relocated to an easily manageable condo in Southbury, said he was tired of lying on his back reading and watching every History Channel show ever produced. So after mulling over the idea with his wife, the couple decided to reactivate Bill’s law license and practice.

Mr Denlinger said he is well suited to handle real estate matters, contracts, wills, trusts, and basic corporate law, but he enjoys handling land use most of all.

“I have worked with all the local commissions,” he said. “And I have a decent success rate in court.”

In general, Mr Denlinger said he tries to help his clients find a way to compromise, versus taking a threatened legal suit to trial.

“A lot of people can sue and win,” he said. “But I often find that things work out better for all parties involved when compromise is reached out of court.”

Mr Denlinger is primarily motivated to “use the time I have left to my best advantage.” Which, he said, means avoiding a lot of trial work that leaves him “wandering around the court for hours, sometimes for just a few minutes in front of the judge.”

Ultimately, thanks to his overall health recovery and return to work, Mr Denlinger said he “feels younger now than before I got sick.” And he said the downtime was probably more of a help than a hindrance to his return.

“After three vacations in 38 years of practice, I guess I was a little worn out,” he said with a fading smile before returning to thoughts of his family.

“I know the process was a lot tougher on Patti and the kids than it was on me, and before my transplant, I don’t really remember what was going on,” he concluded. “But now I guess it’s time to get back to business.”