Yes, William was alive in the 1920s. My grandmother (Grace Florence) was explicit that he died in Sunset mens home in 1933 - I wrote it down at the time (years before the internet).
I haven't seen that account of the divorce before. It brought back some memories though. Grace Florence was married at least 4 times, as well as having some de facto relationships. I remember an argument after she died, between my father and her last husband, as to exactly how many of each. "What about (name-I've-forgotten)" "No, they were defacto" "They can't have stayed defacto, because I went to the wedding" "You must have it confused with a different wedding" etc etc
Yes, she was a real character, and very much ruled by her feelings.