& Lucille A. Belleville ~ December 26, 1917 – April 10, 2018
WILSON C. (BILL) BELLEVILLE ~ October 7, 1918 – July 18, 2017
Bill was born in St. Helens, Oregon, the youngest of six children born to Leo D. and Etta A. Belleville. He was raised in St. Helens working in his father’s meat market. After his father’s sudden death, the family moved to Westport where he attended Westport High School and met many lifelong friends. He spent time after school working in at sawmill, learning woodworking skills he would later use throughout his life.
Bill attended Oregon State for one term before transferring back to Portland to attend Business College, where he graduated in accounting. He enlisted in the Army in 1942-l946.
LUCILLE A. BELLEVILLE ~ December 26, 1917 – April 10, 2018
Lucille was born in Monette, Arkansas, the fourth of 8 children born to James A. and Nellie E. Moore. She was raised on a family farm growing cotton, corn and watermelons. At age 16, she and her family moved to Yuba City, CA where they worked on orchard farms and fruit packing houses.
Lucille attended high school in Yuba City, graduating in three years, then went to Yuba College and earned an A.A. degree in accounting. While in college she met her first husband, Ed Laird, a fighter jet pilot. They were married only 7 months before he was killed in the war.
After Ed’s death in early 1943, she joined the Coast Guard Reserve Police, working in the Richmond, CA shipyards as a guard for a year until the European war was over.
THEIR LIFE TOGETHER
Upon Lucille’s release from the Coast Guard, she went to visit her in-laws in Portland, Oregon.
Bill and his Mom were looking for a new home and came upon one for sale. There he met the love of his life, Lucille Laird, in 1944. They were married later that year, before his transfer to Virginia.
He left the Army in 1946, where he and Lucille settled down in Portland, OR. They had two daughters born three years apart, Penny and Sherrie.
After the birth of his daughter’s, Bill attended both furniture making school and photography school. Again, Bill used these skills throughout his life, making beautiful furniture for his family. He was an extremely talented photographer, with his own darkroom. Every Sunday, after church Lucille and the girls would pose for photographs.
Lucille had an innate talent for all kinds of crafts including, embroidery, crocheting, sewing, upholstery, hand knitting, and machine knitting. She created many beautiful things to decorate their home and made many of Sherrie, Penny and her own clothes as well as doll clothes, often using beautiful materials that her sister, Marcella, would send to her from Europe.
For many years she belonged to a sorority that specialized in charitable work. She and Bill were actively involved and met many new couples who became lifelong friends.
After leaving the Army, Bill worked as an Office/Accounting Manager for Firemans Fund Insurance Company for 15 years. Lucille was active in her daughters’ school, being room mother for both her daughter’s classes for many years. She, also, was a Blue Bird Leader for several years. She and Bill were very active in PTA throughout their daughters’ grade school years, helping put on bake sales and fun fairs, which Bill helped build many of the sets/booths.
Besides the PTA, Bill, Lucille and their daughters were active members of Multnomah Presbyterian Church – Bill being a Deacon. He also was a member of the Kiwanis Club and the Elks Club – where the whole family enjoyed hours of dancing. Their daughters said that only Mom could follow Dad’s lead.
In 1960 Bill and Lucille decided to venture out and start their own business, Belleville Bookkeeping Service, providing accounting services specializing in insurance agency accounting, which Bill had years of experience in. A couple of years later, along with a partner from Seattle, they started Northern Investors of Oregon, a company financing insurance premiums for their agents' clients.
Besides photography, Bill and Lucille enjoyed golfing, fishing, camping, boating, hiking and entertaining their many friends, neighbors and family. Their Christmas Eve parties were legendary and Penny and Sherrie’s high school and college friends always wanted to attend.
In 1971 they bought an unfinished lake-front cabin, (shell, only) in the North Woods Development on Swift Creek Reservoir in Gifford Pinchot Forest in Washington and spent the next year or two finishing the interior along with their daughter, Sherrie and son-in-law, Bob. The family spent 22 years enjoying the cabin, the beautiful view of Mount St. Helens, water skiing, fishing and enjoying the wonderful friends they made there.
Bill and Lucille retired in 1981 and travelled widely throughout the US and Canada, taking photographs. There was always the same lady (Lucille) looking out over the scene in all the photographs.
Bill lived to be 98 years old, just two and a half months shy of is 99th birthday. He and Lucille had 73 years of a fun and eventful marriage and lived for 53 years in their dream home they built in 1964.
Nine months later, Lucille passed away, living to be 100 years and 3 months.
Bill was preceded in death by his parents, his brothers, Bergan and Rex, and sisters,
Isiline, Lenore, and Mary Adeline.
Lucille was preceded in death by her parents, her brothers, Carney, Arvel and Cecil and sister, Mabel and half-sister, Lee.
Bill and Lucille are survived by their daughters Penny Belleville, Sherrie (Bob) Hubble, grandchildren, Chris Hubble (Leanne Wilson) and Stefanie (Stephen) Juran, and great-grandaughters, Jacquelyn Wilson and Ava Juran who gave them such pleasure and many treasured memories throughout their lives. Lucille is survived by her sister, Marcella Mohr. They are also survived by many wonderful nieces, nephews and grand-nieces and grand-nephews.
They were both surrounded by their family members at the time of their passing. The family would like to thank Providence Hospice for their wonderful help and care in the last stages of Bill and Lucille’s lives and to Dr. Burton Silverman for his kindness, care and friendship over the last 20 years.
Both are interred in Willamette National Cemetery.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18