It was 1920, and Bill was having difficulty learning in school, and after taking a mandatory intelligence test, he was classified as "subnormal".
In 1964, when new light was being shed on the treatment of the mentally ill and disabled, Sackter was moved to a halfway house and worked odd jobs to support himself.
Morrow began slowly to make life a bit more comfortable for Bill, getting him new dentures and becoming his friend.
Sackter was named Handicapped Iowan of the Year in 1976, attending a ceremony in Washington, D.C. President Jimmy Carter gave him special recognition in 1979.
Raymond Babbitt, the fictional autistic savant featured in Rain Man, was initially based, in part, on Sackter.