Bill Hosford

William Keith Hosford, who went by 'Bill', was born on July 30, 1941 in Klamath Falls, OR to Leonard V. Hosford and Ella Patterson.
As a child, Bill lived in many places but settled in the Bay Area as a teenager, and attended Sequoia High School where he graduated Class of 1959. He was academically gifted, made first chair in trumpet by 8th grade, and was a starter on his high school basketball team; Bill was a lanky but powerful 6 ft 2 inches and his teammates nicknamed him 'Crane'.
Bill spent his Freshman year of college attending Cal Berkeley, but he left to find himself. He had many adventures during the early days of the cultural revolution of San Francisco in the 60's. At Berkeley, he had become good friends with Robert Hunter who would introduce Bill to the likes of Jerry Garcia, who would go on to form The Grateful Dead. Bill loved reminiscing about living at the infamous Chateau with Hunter and Garcia, and where The Dead played in their earliest incarnations. They often played at The Boar's Head in Menlo Park above Kessler's bookstore, where Bill would meet Kathleen 'Katie' Harrington, who was one of the founders and promoters of the event.
Bill and Katie were married for 13 years until her death, and they had two children, Brian (Julie) and Megan (AJ).
Forever the romantic, Bill was introduced to Peggy Warth by close mutual friends the Jenkins, who he met while finishing his psychology BA at San Jose State, and they were married for 17 years until their divorce. They had Justin (Katie) and Sarah (Brent).
By this time in the late 1990's, Bill lived in Olympia, WA where he had climbed high on the ladder at DSHS as Operations Support Manager, where he worked for 26 years until his retirement in 2008.
Through mutual friends, Bill met Rose Salerno, and they were married for 26 years until his death on October 13, 2024. Bill is stepdad to Gina (Andy) and Ed.
Bill is also survived by his 6 children and 5 grandchildren (Vinca, Lucian, Lilia, Savannah, Aubrey) and his beloved dog, Clarke.
While family was Bill's passion, he had many interests including biking, fishing, reading, watching sports, and playing music. He was very spiritual and attended many churches in his lifetime and served as a church leader.
He was a colorful character and lived a rich, long 83 year life. We loved him deeply and we will miss him dearly.