William Warren Tarleton

Bill was born in New Orleans on April, 26, 1951 to Joan Finch Tarleton and Morris E. Tarleton. His early life was a rich mix of American cultures and experiences. He spent his childhood in Louisiana and his mother’s rural Oklahoma homestead, the latter surrounded by great plains, Native American arrowheads and stories of the past. He also spent time in Maryland and went to school in Chatham, NJ, before moving with his family to Boxford, MA.

Electing to avoid the lottery of the draft, Bill joined the US Air Force as a dog trainer in 1970. A staff sergeant, he served in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, as well as on American air bases around the world. He received an honourable discharge in 1974.

He met Susan Collier in Oxford in 1971 while based in England. The two wed a year later and went on to have two sons – Andrew, born in 1982 and Edward, born in 1987 – and a daughter, Rachael, born in 1991. He was a proud father and always loved his children immensely.

Upon returning to the United States in 1975 he moved first to Massachusetts and then to Louisiana, initially settling in the family home in Denham Springs before shifting to Baton Rouge. He worked an assortment of jobs, including on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, before becoming a branch manager at a building supply company.

In later years he moved back to Boxford to care for his mother before returning, finally, to his home in Baton Rouge. He had been in nursing care since suffering a stroke in March 2021.

Well-read and well-travelled, Bill had an array of lifelong passions including history, politics, LSU sports, good food, good music and British sports cars and motorbikes. He was also the proud owner of a sharp and incisive wit, which he often gleefully turned against his favorite targets: conservatives. “Republican voters are dumber than the shoes in my closet,” he liked to say.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his brothers Morris and Jeff. He will be greatly missed by his sons and daughter, and nieces, nephews and friends around the country.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, 22 January at Rabenhorst Funeral Home on Florida Boulevard, starting at 3pm.