Born on May 29, 1931, in Tucson, Arizona, Bilby served in the United States Army as a Corporal from 1952 to 1954.

He was a law clerk for Judge Richard Harvey Chambers of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1958 to 1959.

[1] Bilby was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, to a seat being vacated by Judge Richard Harvey Chambers, by President Gerald Ford on August 3, 1976.

However, the Senate never voted on his nomination and it expired with the end of the Congressional session.

[2] A lifelong resident of Tucson, Bilby died on August 11, 1998, while walking his dog near his summer home in Flagstaff, Arizona.