‘Lifetime learner’ takes helm of Wayne County Historical Museum in Richmond
Bill Bunch, a classic cars enthusiast, was recently named as the Wayne County Historical Museum’s newest executive director after a yearlong search.
Bill Bunch describes himself as a lifetime learner.
He has bachelor’s degrees in political science and accounting, master’s degrees in business administration, economics, theological studies and divinity, and a doctorate in theology.
Bunch is enrolled in another MBA program, this time for entrepreneurship. But he said he put it on hold when he was hired into his current position in January as executive director for the Wayne County Historical Museum.
Despite his extensive education, Bunch has no experience in working in a museum. His love for history and his success in securing grant funding in previous jobs is why Bunch believes he was hired.
“I got a lot of grant funding for cities to build water and wastewater facilities,” he said. “In the nonprofit world, the ability to write a grant, administer a grant and know all the right words to say to get money is very, very important.”
Before he moved to Richmond with his husband, Bunch owned a management consulting firm in Kentucky with 24 employees. His company also leased 250 employees for the utilities the company managed.
“It was a fairly large endeavor,” he said. “I spent my days just traveling between city to city to visit all these places. We had contracts to train boards and do employee training, but most of our bread and butter was full management contracts. We’d go in and contract with the city to manage their water utility or manage their sewer plants.”
A retirement in 2016
Although Bunch said he “had a blast” running his company, he retired in 2016 to take care of his terminally ill sister after he was unsatisfied with her caregiver.
“I just felt like every time I get two hours away on a business call, I’d get a call from home saying she’s sick and she needs to go to the hospital,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to be able to sell the business and retire and take care of her for a number of years.”
Bunch said his sister’s condition is a combination of issues.
“None of the individual ailments she has are serious, but you take them all together, she has zero mobility,” he said. “It’s just a lot of problems that create a bad situation.”
Although he cared for his sister for seven years, Bunch said he has since found two agencies he is satisfied with to care for her.
“Some people are just not cut out to be caregiver, and I’m one of them,” he said. “I like to be out among people and get up and go every day, and being a caregiver is rough. … I feel like I fulfilled my responsibility.”
Officially a Richmond resident, he volunteers
While taking care of his sister, Bunch met his now-husband, who got a job as a lecturer in Indiana University East’s communications department in October 2023. So the pair moved.
“I was fortunate enough to be able to retire early, so I didn’t have a job,” Bunch said. “I was doing some remote accounting work for a CPA firm, but largely I was just retired and volunteering.”
In addition to his degrees, Bunch also earned a minor in history. His hobbies involved history and biographies.
“I’ve seen a number of museums,” he said. “I’ve seen the big ones like the Smithsonian, the Met and the Field. I’ve seen a lot of county museums, and when I toured this one, probably in the spring of 2024, I was just so impressed with the collection here. This one is a gem.”
Bunch said he was enamored with Richmond’s historical museum largely thanks to Julia Gaar, the founder who brought artifacts back from her world travels.
“She wanted to, as I quote her, bring the world to Richmond,” he said. “She had a burning desire to expose the children of Richmond to the world, many of whom probably she thought may never leave Wayne County. That’s how we got the mummy and all these international artifacts. That’s not usually what you find in the county museum.”
During his retirement, Bunch became active in the Richmond Rotary Club and at the Model T Museum. At the time, Tina Conti, who was the historical museum’s interim executive director, was also president of the Rotary Club.
“I actually learned about this position being available by overhearing a conversation at the Rotary Club,” he said. “When I first came up here, she was talking about that, and I didn’t even talk to her about it that day. I went home, and I thought.”
Conti, who was interim executive director for a year, will remain on the staff as a volunteer and, according to the museum’s website, is overseeing the programs and development division.
Bringing back the past
In the museum’s 2025 proposed calendar, a number of events are returning after hiatuses.
The first is a series of car shows/cruise-ins, akin to Bunch’s love for classic cars, and are set for June 7 (in collaboration with the Model T Museum’s homecoming), June 29, July 27 and Aug. 31. Collections manager Kerry George said the museum last held a car show in 2018.
Also coming back are Doll Tea, which, according to a Palladium-Item archive search, last occurred in 2014, and Literacy Night, which last occurred in 2017.
The major exhibit of the year, the first overseen by Bunch, will open on May 3 and will feature wedding dresses and groom attire from Wayne County over the years.
“They’re all local dresses, and many of them are probably going to be names people are familiar with,” Bunch said. “For example, we have a gown from the Knollenbergs. I think we have two dresses from the Gannetts. You may walk in and find that ‘Hey, that’s my grandmother.’ With 50 gowns, it’s pretty good odds.”
On the day of the exhibit’s opening, Bunch said, the museum’s community room will also feature up to 24 local merchants that do anything related to a wedding, from bakers to photographers.
“People that might be planning a wedding will have an opportunity to talk to them and get ideas, or maybe book them for services,” he said.
Other events this year include a racing exhibit event on May 24 to correspond with the Indianapolis 500, a summer camp from July 14 to July 18, and annual events in September, October and December surrounding Halloween and Christmas.
“My vision and my goal is to make this museum a destination for both locals and tourists,” Bunch said. “A lot of what’s in this museum doesn’t change. The mummy’s going to be here every time you come. I want it to be something people can come and see every three months and see something very different. Something that relates to something they know, some people they know or their neighborhood, to find a personal connection in this museum.”
“I have a legacy all over southeast Kentucky. My name is on water plants and wastewater plants and Courthouse Square renovations and all of that,” he said. “I’m a resident of Richmond now and I love Richmond. I don’t have a legacy here at Richmond. I would like to be here long enough to leave Richmond and this museum a better place.”
Bunch said he’d like to stay at least until the museum’s 100th anniversary in 2030.
