William C. Weeks, age 69, passed away peacefully in his home on August 22, 2020. He was born to James Riley Weeks and Jean Adams Walker in Meriden, Connecticut, and spent most of his childhood in Long Beach, California. He moved to Palo Alto, California, in 1968 to attend Stanford University, and after graduation, Bill was hired by the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), a national particle-accelerator laboratory for research in high-energy physics. As a computer programmer at SLAC, his work in offline mass data storage technology was leading edge. Upon retirement, Bill moved from the San Francisco Bay Area, California to Seattle, Washington, in order to enjoy the scenic beauty of the Pacific Northwest.
Bill will be remembered lovingly by family and friends as a genuinely great guy who was good-natured, patient, kind and generous, caring, sensitive, fun to be with, extremely intelligent, and a math whiz with a wry sense of humor.
Bill’s keen analytical skills and problem-solving talents manifested quite early and served well his lifelong love of solving puzzles and playing games. As a youngster, when he and his twin brother were “volunteered” to play bridge with their parents, Bill calculated which cards the other players held as soon as the dummy’s cards were laid down and accurately predicted how many tricks he and his opponents would take. Board games, bridge, blackjack, and other card games, early video games, eventually Microsoft daily challenge FreeCell events where he placed in the Top 100 on the global leaderboard, other solitaire games, Hidato, Hitori, and Sudoku provided Bill with mental stimulation, challenge, and enormous joy and satisfaction.
In retirement, Bill was able to freely indulge his passion for gaming and solving puzzles, reading hundreds of books a year, and watching team sports (college and professional football, basketball, and soccer). He generously supported charities, social and environmental causes, and the arts. In recent years, he served as Treasurer on the Board of Directors of a condominium association, where his math acuity and critical thinking helped to strengthen financial controls and reduce costs.
Bill was an athlete, who enjoyed running, tennis, golf, hiking, and working out. He also enjoyed traveling.
Bill is survived by his brother Charles, sister Edith, twin brother John, niece Ellen, nephew Martin, and partner of 28 years Melanie.
Charitable donations in his memory may be made to World Wildlife Fund, Yosemite Conservancy, The Seattle Public Library Foundation, and The Nature Conservancy.
