Bill Simcox Jr.

Burbank, Washington

"Bill" Simcox Jr., 81, of the Charbonneau area here, died Dec. 1, 2002, at Kennewick General Hospital.
Cremation will be through Bruce Lee Memorial Chapel, 2804 W. Lewis St., Pasco. At his request, there will be no service. Memorials can be made to Walla Walla County Fire District 5 Firefighters Association or Tall Elks.
Mr. Simcox was born July 13, 1921, in Portland to William Arba Sr. and Madge Duella Tuttle Simcox. He graduated from Benson Polly-Tech in Portland in 1939.
He joined the U.S. Army in 1942 and was a radio tech, then transferred to Butler University, Indianapolis, Ind., to become a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He retrained in the Army infantry to go to the Battle of the Bulge in Germany and served in the European, Bavarian and Pacific theaters during World War II.
He started playing with electronics as a young child. After the war he attended a radio-electronics school, became an announcer and received a first-class license. He married Betty Bells Slater July 3, 1957, in Pasco.
He was an announcer at radio stations in La Grande and Kennewick. He later became head of the electronics shop at Hanford. In 1959, he moved to Portland to be a government quality control representative.
He won Snoopy and Apollo awards for his work on Apollo 11. He retired in 1971 and moved with his family to Walla Walla in 1975.
He was a proud 27-year plus member of Walla Walla Elks Lodge 287. A ham radio operator, he built all his own equipment and used the call sign W7LZO.
Survivors include his wife, at home; three sons, William Arba Simcox III of Tacoma, and Ty and Bruce Slater,both of Portland; two daughters, Christine Winters of Roy, Wash., and Penny Jo Law of Burbank; nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by two sisters.