Obituary of William A. Milligan

William A. “Bill” Milligan William A. Milligan died Monday, April 29, 2013, at Woodland Retirement and Assisted Living in Lacey, Washington. He was 94 years old. Bill was born on August 8, 1918, in Seattle, Washington, to William and Ida Milligan. He grew up in the Ravenna / Roosevelt neighborhood. As a little boy, he met Oregon Trail and Washington pioneer, Ezra Meeker. During the Great Depression, Bill’s family, like many others, survived using the “barter system” for goods and services. Entertainment came in the form of living room dance parties, radio programs such as “Fibber McGee and Molly,” and home brew for the adults and homemade root beer for the kids! Bill’s lifetime love of music began at the age of ten when he took clarinet, then saxophone lessons. During his years at Roosevelt High School in Seattle, he played in a dance band. After graduating in 1936, Bill continued playing tenor sax with the “Big Band” founded by Jimmy Crane at the University of Washington. Building a cabin with his dad on Goat Creek in the Silver Springs area of Snoqualmie National Forest gave Bill his first taste of carpentry. The cabin became the setting for many pleasant summer and winter vacations, both in his young adult years and as a father himself in later years. Bill decided that college life was not for him and he worked at a variety of jobs before enlisting in the Navy in July of 1941. After basic training at San Diego, he was shipped off to Ford Island Naval Air Station in Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii. Ninety days later, he experienced the “Date that will live in infamy” firsthand. On December 7, 1941, Bill was a clerk-typist for a commanding officer, so he did not have an assigned battle station. When the bombing of Pearl Harbor began, he and some buddies ran to the armory for weapons, but all that was left was an unassembled Browning machine gun and a tripod. They took that to the top of the Administration Building and attempted to put it together, but learned later that the parts were from different weapons. They never fired a shot, but “…we watched in horror as the USS California, Oklahoma, Maryland, Tennessee, and West Virginia took tremendous hits…the whole harbor was in flames.” Shrapnel was falling everywhere around them and the explosion of the USS Arizona was deafening. Bill helped Navy medics with the casualties, then operated a teletype machine for 10 hours, sending and receiving coded messages. It was many days before his parents in Seattle knew if he had survived the bombing. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Bill became a Naval photographer, assigned to JICPOA (Joint Intelligence Center, Pacific Ocean Area). He volunteered for combat duty for the invasion of Saipan and Tinian, in the Marianna Islands. His unit worked in conjunction with the 4th Marine Division. In 1944, while on leave in San Francisco, he met Helen Powell and her 7-year-old son, Richard, from a previous marriage. It was love at first sight and they vowed to marry when the war was over. Bill was honorably discharged from the Navy in November of 1945 and they were married on June 29, 1946, in San Francisco. Bill, Helen and Richard moved to South Seattle and built a small house there. In June, 1947, their fist daughter was born. In October 1947, Bill officially adopted Richard. Then, in July 1951, their second daughter was born. Bill’s interest in carpentry continued as he added on to the family’s original home. In 1960, Bill and his family moved to the Burien area, then in 1980 to Des Moines, Washington. As empty-nesters, the couple followed their developing interest in golf to a condo at Glen Acres Golf and Country Club and then finally to a home in Lacey by the Capitol City Golf Course. Much of their travel involved playing golf courses throughout the western United States, as well as Hawaii and British Columbia. Helen died in January of 2007, but Bill’s traveling days were not over. One month shy of his 90th birthday, he made a solo train trip to Colorado to visit his sister-in-law, Nettie Robertson, and her daughter, Catherine. One month later, he celebrated his birthday in Los Angeles with three of his grandchildren and two great grandchildren. In 2011, Bill moved a few blocks away from the home he and Helen had shared to Woodland Retirement and Assisted Living, where he made many new friends. Bill’s most rewarding career was in the field of hotel management. With his outgoing personality and his ability to remember names and faces, he was a natural! He worked for 18 years as part of the management staff at the Hyatt House Hotel, one of the first upscale hotels in the SeaTac airport area. After managing the Sandstone Town and Country Inn, which was also by the airport, he retired in 1988. Bill was a past member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association until it disbanded in 2011. Bill was preceded in death by his parents, William and Ida Milligan; his wife, Helen M. Milligan; and his son, Richard R. Milligan. He is survived by his daughter, Linda (Daryle) Buchanan of South Bend, Washington; his daughter, Dianne Milligan of Roy, Washington; four grandchildren, three great grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews. Bill’s family would like to thank his neighbors at Mountain Greens Mobile Home Park for their many years of friendship, and the administration, staff and residents at Woodland for their care and compassion during the last two years of his life. At Bill’s request, there will be no service. Interment will take place at Tahoma National Cemetery at a later date. Memorial donations may be made to Providence St. Peter Hospital Foundation. 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