the workers. He later said that this job gave him the ultimate in understanding motivation. Other activities of Van were the promotion of Wrigley Chewing Gum on the radio; and writing a book Snap Out of It in 1933, which is partially his autobiography. In 1948, Billy visited the Bob and Ray Show on WHDH Boston. That appearance can be heard at the Old Time Radio Downloads website. Death and lasting legacy Van died in a hospital in Newport on Nov. 16, 1950, age 79, apparently from heart seizure. Obituaries provided some retrospective views of his career, as seen from a 1950 perspective. Time magazine unkindly called him a "palavering onetime vaudeville comic" who plugged chewing gum on radio. The New York Times called him a long-time trouper and lecturer on Yankee philosophy. They credited him as being instrumental in the formation of MGM. And the Newport newspaper called him one of the most colorful citizens in its long history. Van was buried in Pine Grove Cemetery in Newport, with the grave marked only by a footstone. In 2014 a large headstone was erected in his honor, behind the footstone, describing his career. This marked the time of a revival of interest in the career of Van in the Lake Sunapee area. Both the Newport and Sunapee Historical Societies have put on programs about him. Study of Van's papers deposited in the Newport Historical Society led to an award-winning book by Jayna H. Hooper, "Billy B. Van: Newport's Sunshine Peddler" (2016). Surviving him was his wife, Grace, who appears to have died a few years later. They had three children. Two were girls, Mary Ann (Bundgus, who later was a secretary to Arthur Godfrey) and Bonnie Grace (Harding, who lived in California). They evidently had talent as they appeared as the Van Sisters in summer stock and with the Shubert organization. The Van Sisters reminds one of the Beaumont Sisters, years earlier. The third was a son, William Van, who died in 1970 and had a small metal grave marker next to his father's stone, but now has his name on the back side of the Van headstone. At the time of Van's death, he had one grandchild, Peter Van Harding. Primary sources Helga Ketchen, A Beginning Who's Who of Some Citizens of the Town of Newport, N.H., August 1961 Mary Peterson, A Collection of New Hampshire Stories, Mountaineer Publishing