With great sadness we note that at age eighty-five, Dr. William Louis Lester departed this earthly realm for an unknown destination.

Bill’s childhood was marked by loss and deprivation, conditions he faced with characteristic resilience. When his mother died before he was five, his father packed up Bill, his older sister Fern, and their few belongings in an old jalopy, heading West from Iowa to California, Grapes of Wrath style. Life was not easy in Petaluma where his parentally-challenged dad found work on the chicken ranches. The kids were often fending for themselves, in the habit of liberating walnuts and fruit from orchards on their way to school.

When Bill was just 12 or 13, his dad told him it was time to find a job, and kicked him out of their tiny, inadequate abode. Ever resourceful, Bill went to work for a friendly family with a son about his age, with whom he lived throughout high school, moving to San Jose somewhere along the way. Bill’s oft-told story is that when he graduated Campbell High School in 1950, there were two choices: join a gang or join the US Army. He chose the military and was soon shipped off to Korea just as that conflict erupted. He saw some combat in Korea, but spent most of his military career first in Japan, where he learned a bit of the language and a great appreciation for the culture, followed by a year in Hawaii, where he learned a bit of the language and a great appreciation for the culture. He was proud to be the single non-native Hawaiian in his outfit.

Returning home, Bill took advantage of the GI Bill to put himself through college, earning a PhD in microbiology from the University of California, Davis. He soon went to work for Cutter Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company in Berkeley, California. In those years he married his first wife, Rae, with whom he had three children, Bill, Patty and John. After some years, Bill became disillusioned with his work at Cutter, and sought an academic position. He was recruited by Humboldt State University in Arcata, California, to instigate a program in micro-medical biology, which proved highly successful, especially for students aiming for nursing school. His academic career spanned 37 years.

Following divorce from Rae, Bill married his second wife, Lynn, with whom he had three children, Jeff, Christopher, and Timothy. Moving to Humboldt County, the second family lived on a small ranch, raising and showing horses and sheep, all the while Bill was fulfilling his academic responsibilities and proving to be a very popular teacher.

After his second divorce in 2000, he met and almost immediately proposed to Ellen Land-Weber. They married in 2005. During their happy years together Ellen and Bill enjoyed travel to many foreign destinations, including Costa Rica, driving 2000 miles in Eastern Turkey at a time when it was devoid of conflict, several trips to Southeast Asia to visit Myanmar, Cambodia, Viet Nam and Thailand, and small ship cruises to Antarctica, the Galapagos, Patagonia, and Baja to see newborn whales. They went to their favorite spot in Kauai every summer for fourteen years in a row.

Bill loved to play bridge, and was a serious stamp collector, filling a large, bookshelf- lined room with his extensive stamp collection. He enjoyed shooting skeet at the Humboldt Trap and Skeet Gun Club range where his membership spanned decades.

He was a proud member of the honor society Phi Kappa Phi, serving for many years as head of the Humboldt State University chapter. As an amateur geologist, Bill loved to collect, cut, and polish rocks of all shapes and sizes. He was equally interested in ornithology, observing and identifying birds at The Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary as well as in his own backyard, binoculars and bird book always close by.

Bill was preceded in death by his sister, Fern, his first wife, Rae, and children Patty, and John. He is survived by his wife Ellen, sons Bill, Jeff, Christopher, and Timothy, step daughter Julie Landweber and her family, and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Bill was a charming, happy man who had the knack to make everyone smile and laugh. He was a gentleman and a scholar and will be missed by many.

A celebration of Bill’s life will be announced later. If you wish, please make a donation in his name to your favorite charity.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Bill Lester’s family. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.