William Owen "Bill" Pugh

William O. “Bill” Pugh was born February 7, 1918 at Terry, MT, the son of Arthur J. and Opal (Kerns) Pugh. He attended the public schools of Wenatchee, Washington; graduated from Whitman College in 1939; did graduate work at the University of Iowa and the University of the Pacific, receiving a Master’s degree in 1947.

He served from 1941 to 1946 with the U.S. Army in both enlisted and commissioned assignments. He was one of the first ten volunteers in Selective Service from Chelan County in 1941 with his first assignment to the 248th Coast Artillery, Harbor Defenses of Puget Sound. He subsequently served 28 months as a non-commissioned aviation cadet at Randolph Air Force Base and completed AG Officer Candidate School in June 1943 at Fort Washington, Maryland. He completed WW II active duty as Assistant Adjutant General, Western Pacific Base Command in the Mariana Islands.

He and Sydney Merriman Houtz were married September 12, 1943, in Santa Barbara, California. He was an instructor and assistant professor at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA from 1946 to 1949. From 1949 to 1952, he was assistant professor and vice-chairman of the English Department at The American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, in charge of all freshman courses in written and spoken English. Summer projects in the Near East included guidance studies of jobs, salaries, and wages for the United Nations agency to aid Palestinian refugees. Influenced by family health considerations, he moved with his family in 1953 to Yakima where he was assistant manager of the Yakima Chamber of Commerce for three years. He was then employed in community services for the Republic Publishing Company Followed by more than 18 years as the administrator of the Columbia River Red Cross Regional Blood Services.

At national conferences of the American Red Cross in Detroit (1964) and in Washington D.C. (1972), he was designated spokesman for the smaller regional programs; in 1972 he helped lead the initiative resulting in the elimination of all formal reciprocity transactions among 56 centers significantly reducing the exchange of paper nationwide. From 1976 to 1983, he was Director of the Yakima Valley Museum and Historical Association. He was seriously involved in the organizational endeavors following the 1974-76 merger and expansion of the museum and served again as Museum Interim Director during 1991 and 1992. Since 1998, he has served as a member of the Yakima City Special Valuation Review Board for Historic Properties and was the first chairman of that panel.

He was a member of Delta Sigma Rho, the Reserve Officers Association, U.S. Figure Skating Association, Washington Congress of Parents and Teachers Life, Wesley United Methodist Church, and the Yakima Lions Club. He was Scout Master of Boy Scout Troop 15 (Yakima) from 1959 to 1961 and a member of the Washington State Advisory Council on Archaeology and Historic Preservation from 1981 to 1984. In collaboration with Shields Printing, he published the Yakima Valley Museum historical account entitled "A Good Place for Relics and Other Things".

Bill is survived by his children; Michael W. Pugh (Marion, MT), Christopher L. Pugh (Yakima), Julie L. (Ron) Barnett (Ketchum, ID) and extended family, including five grandchildren and numerous great grandchildren.

Thanks Dad. You were the best. All your guidance, love self-sacrifice for all your children, for all their lives was better than any of us deserved.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Bill’s memory to the Yakima Human Society or the Yakima Valley Museum in care of Keith & Keith Funeral Home. A graveside service will be at West Hills Memorial Park on Wednesday, February 14, 2018 at 2:00 p.m.

Bill’s Celebration of Life service will follow at a later date.

To share a memory of Bill, please visit www.keithandkeith.com