The Inventor and "Father" of 12‐volt Outdoor Lighting

From Left to Right: W. Locklin, Jose Carlos and the sales Representative of Nightscaping in Canada: Raymond Josephian. Photo courtesy of JC Group

(AOLP) hosted its Annual Conference in Scottsdale, AZ. The conference featured two certification training sessions as well as numerous speakers and sessions. On Thursday January 29th, AOLP awarded its Industry Achievement Award. This award is given to those that have immensely impacted the industry in every way. This year's Industry Achievement Award was given to William J. "Bill" Locklin. Bill was the inventor and "father" of 12‐volt outdoor lighting.

Bill passed away in 2007 at the age of 86. Bill was a longtime Redlands, CA resident and founder of Nightscaping Lighting Manufacturer. Bill served as a chief electrician aboard the USS Trepang in World War II.

His first exterior lighting job after the war was at Palm Springs church preparing to welcome Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower to a service. In December of 1964 Bill's company Nightscaping was used to decorate the White House outdoor Christmas tree. Later President and Mrs. Nixon used Nightscaping in the landscaping of their "Western White House" in San Clemente, California.

Bill was selected to light the traveling Vietnam Wall when it was at Riverside National Cemetery. Bill was an entrepreneur in every sense of the word. He designed lighting plans for homes and business all over the world, and always gave great consideration to please the owner.

Bill strongly believed in giving back to the community in many ways, including contributing to the Boys and Girls Club of Redlands; supporting landscape architecture students at the University of California, Cal‐Poly Pomona; providing scholarships for the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Foundation; and in providing workers and lighting to the Redlands Assistance League in their building of a 2007 dental clinic for the disadvantaged of the area. He hired persons with developmental disabilities in his business, and was the businessman who "was there" for many individuals in need.

Bill was a member of AOLP; ASLA; the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) and of the NECA's National Education Council.

Source: Martin Speece, AOLP Communications Department.