index high galactic latitude stars included promising post-AGB candidates to lead to finds of similar objects to better understand the post-AGB sub-groups of stars. Invited to speak at the 1996 IAU Symposium on carbon stars Bidelman declined on advice from his doctor, but sent introductory comments in which he said: Pointing out that observers sometimes "note things that don't seem to make much sense, but which later are realized to have been very significant indeed", he traced a brief history of "this stellar oddball" and concluded: In May 1998, the Case astronomy students and graduates held a 2-day "Kth" reunion to honor Bidelman and new retiree Peter Pesch. Bidelman (1969) once said that the problem of the Ap stars (1969) is that "stars of unusual spectrum are doing unusual things". In 2002, Bidelman suggested the peculiar magnetic A stars may have once been close binaries that "merged and are now in the process of learning to live as single objects", and suggested in 2005 that Przybylski's Star may be one such object. In Case Western University's 2008 astronomy department newsletter, Chair Heather Morrison wrote they were sorry to say goodbye to Professor Bidelman, who had turned 90 "and has decided to finish his distinguished career in Astronomy by retiring for a second time". Honors Bidelman was elected to the American Astronomical Society in 1944. and was a member for over 65 years. He was president of the Cleveland Astronomical Society from 1973 to 1976. Bidelman was elected to the international science honor society Sigma Xi by Case Western Reserve University. The minor planet 9398 Bidelman (1994 SH3), discovered by the Arizona group Spacewatch at Kitt Peak on September 28, 1994 was named in his honor. It is an outer main belt asteroid. The peculiar supergiant star HD 30353 is named "Bidelman's star". Personal life William Pendry Bidelman was born on September 25, in 1918 in Los Angeles, California. Bidelman's father, the son of Howard Bidelman and Julia Pendry, had the same name but Bidelman did not use the designation "Jr.," after college. When the family experienced financial difficulties, Bidelman moved with his mother to Grand Forks, North Dakota where his grandparents raised him. As a boy, Bidelman wrote to Alfred H. Joy at Mount Wilson, to ask how to become an astronomer. They later served together on the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Publications Committee in 1955 and 1956. He