Bill Waddle

Bill Waddle passed away March 1, 2026, of a heart ailment, while visiting family in San Luis Obispo, California. Bill was born in Modesto, California and grew up an only child in Visalia.

He ran track and played football at MT Whitney High school and participated in 4H. He joined 4H at the age of 10 and obtained a loan on his own at the ripe age of 12 to purchase his first calf. In 1959, as a Freshman at UC Davis, he won the National 4H Beef project award along with a scholarship, at the National 4H Club Congress held in Chicago.

After ROTC in college, he accepted his commission as Second Lieutenant in the USAF, married, Sandra Copeland, and entered the Vietnam War through the skies as a Navigator in the KC135 and later in the B52.

When the war ended, he turned one of his pastimes into a career in the stockbroker business. After about fifteen years he left that realm and pursued a third career in his collegiate field of study, as a Deputy Agricultural Commissioner for Stanislaus County and later Monterey County from which he retired to Brookings, Oregon in 2003.

Retirement was short lived as he decided to o er his experience and ability in service to the community as a Curry County Commissioner in 2009. He served four years and then returned to his neglected hobbies of Duplicate Bridge, blackberry annihilation and grandparenting. If you ever had any conversation with him at all you learned fairly quickly of his renewed passion for breeding cattle with his daughter to produce excellent club calves. He would proudly share pictures of their latest darlings.

Bill is survived by his wife Sandra, his son William, his daughter, Rebecca VanderHorst, (Alan), his five grandchildren; Anneke Hickman (Nick), Katrina VanderHorst, Willem VanderHorst, Tabitha VanderHorst, and Elia VanderHorst, and his great grandson, Rhett Hickman.

Service will be held at Hadley's Marcom Funeral Chapel on March 13th at 9AM, and graveside at Visalia Cemetery at 11 AM.