Bill Wilson was born June 15, 1930, in Longview, Wash., first child of Buela and Robert M. Wilson, and was raised on their farm. He was drafted into the Army during the Korean War and served two years as a corporal stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco working as a Photolithographer.

Bill met Leah Grace Weir at a USO dance and they married Warren, Ohio, in 1956. After the war he returned to college to finish his electrical engineering degree at Washington State and worked as an electrical and mechanical engineer for various companies including: Leeds and Northrup, Rocky Flats, IBM, Gates Rubber, Ideal Cement Co., and for Martin Marietta as a member of the Sky Lab project.

They started their family in Concord, Calif., then moved to Coal Creek Canyon, Colo., where they built their own home in 1963. Bill and Leah were charter members of Church of the Open Door, and the family regularly backpacked, skied, swam, camped and traveled summers by car/trailer.

Bill loved HO scale trains, photography, wood working and tool buying. In 1975 he got his dream job working “100 tillable acres” outside Berthoud, Colo. He also took up scuba diving and sailing his 35-foot sail boat on nearby lakes. He was a member of the United Methodist Church in Berthoud and helped build homes with Homes for Habitat for Humanity.

Bill lost his son, James Robert, to AIDS but is survived by his wife Leah and children Barbara (husband Bob Mcgrane) and two grandchildren, Jamie and Thomas; his daughter Karen Sue (husband Pat Hable) and grand-dog Max; and his son Frederick William Wilson (wife Natalie) and grand-dogs Willow and Novalie. After moving into town for care, Bill planned for his remaining children to build homes on his beloved farmland where his ashes will be spread this spring.