Bill died February 6, 2020, in Highland, CA. After graduating from high school, he began his 34-year career with the USFS working on the Lassen, Shasta-Trinity and San Bernardino National Forests. Before retirement in 1987, Bill was FMO for the Cajon District of the San Bernardino N.F. He worked with FIRESCOPE in the creation of the Incident Command System and fought fires throughout the Western U.S. Bill spent two years in the US Army being discharged in 1959.
Two days after retiring, Bill began a new career with the Alvord School District (Riverside) where he was the Director of Maintenance and Operations, a position he held for 24 years before retiring again in 2012. Bill was part of the unique R-5 "Retread" program and jumped from 1964-70 as a "Retread."