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Bill died 9/11/15 at home in Tacoma in his sleep after a very short battle with sarcoma. The family of 8 moved to Sunnyside, WA in 1946 where Bill went to school. He graduated from Newport High School. He married Jean Ockert; they and their children moved to Seattle so he could go to the University of Washington. Because he needed a job to support his family, he started to sell real estate and made his first house sale the day he turned 21 in 1960. He quit the University and continued to sell and later invest in real estate and completed his UW degree much later. In 1971, he and his brother were tourists to Russia as well as much of Eastern and Western Europe, and Bill caught the travel bug. He continued to travel the rest of his life and visited most of the world. Besides travel, his other great love was bicycling; he completed a cross-country 45-day bicycle trip in 2002 with his grandson (Disneyland to Disneyworld). He participated in 7 STP rides and many "state rides" in Washington, New York, Louisiana, Wisconsin and especially the RAGBRAI in Iowa, where he interrupted his ride in 2005 to have 2 stents placed in his heart at the Mayo Clinic because he was having a heart attack. He bicycled completely around the island of Morea in Tahiti as well as on Bora Bora. He risked imprisonment and fines to bicycle in Cuba before it was legal to travel there. He bicycled Vietnam on busy Highway 1 and returned there often as a tourist with his wife, other family members and friends. When Washington State legalized recreational marijuana in 2014, he saw a new opportunity, entered the state license lottery, won a license and then spent several months preparing to open his store, Mr. Bill's of Buckley. He and wife Trudy had their 30-year wedding anniversary in 2015. He was predeceased by his parents, his sister Dorothy and his brothers Skip and Sam. He is also survived by his children Debra Barnia of Puyallup, Teresa Whelan of Olympia, William Jr. of Steilacoom and Evelyn Bare (Mark) of Rathdrum ID; stepchildren Bettina Maki of Bothell and Edgar Schaefer, Jr. of Enumclaw; as well as two grandchildren Barbara Morrison (Paul) of Elko NV and Michael Whelan (Fabricia) of University Place along with 4 great-grandchildren. He leaves a brother Floyd Lee of Spokane, a sister Betty Carlyle of Sunnyside, many nieces, nephews, cousins and other extended family members along with a multitude of friends. |
