William Arthur Mesecher
William Arthur Mesecher, 84, of Goldendale, died March 8, 2010, in Wenden, Ariz., following a long struggle with asbestosis.
He was born Oct. 12, 1925, in Klickitat, the oldest of 10 children.
When Bill was seven years old, he moved to Goldendale, where his grandparents, Julia Hale-Mesecher and Charles Mesecher raised him. When he was a young man he worked many jobs until World War II broke out and he quit high school when he was 16, and lied about his age in order to enlist in the US Navy.
Bill was on the USS Brown and was a fireman in the engine room, (that’s where he got the Asbestosis). The crew aboard the USS Brown received a Presidential Citation for their valor battle at Okinawa.
Bill met Marie Stewart-Tinsley around 1948 and married her. Marie had four small children, which Bill loved and raised as his own. They are Joan Tinsley Anderson of Redmond, Ore., Tom Tinsley, of Seattle, Gene Tinsley deceased, Carolyn Tinsley Martin, from Woodland.
During Bill’s life he had many different jobs, around 1950 he went to work at the Barns Hospital in Vancouver. In the mid 50’s he worked at the Portland Air Base, in the Civil Service. While working there in the 1960’s he picked up a second job and worked the local Theaters as projectionist in the evenings. Also the same time as working these two jobs, he still found time for his country and served in the Army Reserves.
When Bill retired, he went to work for Del Norte County as a building inspector. Bill and Marie later moved back home to Vancouver, where Marie died in 1997.
On June 13, 1998, Bill married his daughter Sandra’s mother-in-law, Margaret Ickert of Vancouver. In 2000, they moved to Goldendale, where they spent the summers and Wenden, Ariz., for the winters because of health issues with his lungs. When the marriage took place Bill gained even more family, six more kids, 12 more grandchildren and nine more great-grandchildren.
Bill was a long member of the Grange, first the Hazel-Dell Grange, then transferred to Goldendale. He was also a member of the I.O.O.F. of Crescent City, CA.
You can say that Bill loved his country and was a great patriot serving in three branches of the service, including the US Navy during WWII, the US Army Reserves and in the Civil Service in the US Air Force.
Survivors include his wife Margaret Mesecher; two daughters, Sandra Ickert of Vancouver, and Denise Harding from Salem, Ore.; three brothers and three sisters, Colleen Mesecher of Portland, Ore., Judy Lunyou of Springfield, Ore., Betty Murphy of Sacramento, Calif., Les Mesecher of Port Saint Lucie, Fla., James Mesecher of Toppenish, and Larry Mesecher of Fresno, Calif.; 12 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren, and four great-great grandchildren.
The funeral was held at Hamilton-Mylan Funeral Home at 302 W. 11th St, Vancouver, on March 20 at 11 p.m.
