Aug. 11, 1924 – July 31, 2006
William “Bill” Wallace Skilling, 81, of Brownsville, died July 31, 2006 at Albany General Hospital.
He was born in Eugene to Edwin Wallace and Frances Eva (Stratton) Skilling. He served in the Navy for two terms, from December 1941 to October 1945 and from April 1948 to December 1972, retiring as a chief hospital corpsman.
Mr. Skilling married Margaret Prior on Feb.10, 1945. That marriage later ended in divorce. He then married Joyce Davies on Oct. 3, 1963 in Long Beach, Calif.
He has lived in Eugene, Oakland, Calif., Long Beach, Calif., Oxnard, Calif., Atascadero, Calif., Poway, Calif., Bend and Brownsville.
He received a BA from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif. and an MA from Chapman College in California. He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He served two missions for his church, one in Sierra Leone Africa and one in Kentucky. He also served as a branch president for the Bend Singles Branch.
His hobbies were genealogy and family history, coin collecting, photography and framing pictures.
He is survived by his wife, Joyce Skilling of Brownsville; children, Gail Wiley of Temecula, Calif., Susan Skilling of Port Townsend, Wash., Emma Whitcomb of Tigard, Micah Skilling of Seattle and Sarah Skilling of Seattle; step-children, Dane Conklin of Kent, Wash., and Laura Holbrook of Brownsville; sister, Patricia Cunningham of Livermore, Calif.; 14 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his son, Michael Skilling, in 2004.
A funeral service was held Aug. 5 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brownsville, with interment following at Pioneer Cemetery in Brownsville.
Memorial contributions can be made to Spay Inc. c/o Workman & Steckly Funeral Chapel 1443 Long St. Sweet Home, OR 97386.