William Lyle Ekman

1937 - 2018

William Lyle Ekman

Santa Paula, CA

William Lyle Ekman passed away in the early hours of June 28, 2018 surrounded by his beloved family.

William (Bill) was born in Vermillion, South Dakota on January 21, 1937. He was the son of William E. and Louise Ekman, brother of Mary Ekman Johnson. While attending the University of South Dakota he met and married his wife, Norma. They recently celebrated their 61th anniversary. After receiving his BS degree he went on to Medical School and graduated from the University of Kansas. He immediately went into the U.S. Navy, which brought the family to California. After his military service, he entered a family practice residence at VCMC, which was completed in 1970. He went into family practice in Santa Paula, California and helped found Santa Clara Valley Medical Group where he continued practice until 1982, at which time he went to UCLA and obtained a degree in Anesthesiology. After S.P. Hospital closed he worked at Ojai Community Memorial until retirement in 2017.

William and Norma have four children, Ellen Nisbet, Linda Ekman, David Ekman (Ginna), and Jill Ekman (Ken). They have 12 grandchildren, Eric (Carrie), Heather (Raul), Bradley Nisbet, Quinn Richards, Dustin, Kaitlin (Jericho), Christopher Farris, Lauren, Sarah, Elle Ekman and Madison and Hunter Robinson. They were blessed with 5 great grandchildren, Kelsey, Stella, Gavin, Fletcher and Leo.

His many passions included flying, ham radio, boating, marathon running, motorcycles, music, travel, and birds and dogs. He loved his family, his friends, his profession and life. He will be greatly missed.

Bill's memorial will be held on Thursday, July 12 at 11:00 a.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, Santa Paula followed by graveside service at Santa Paula Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, doantions could be made to the Santa Paula Airport Museum or Santa Clara Valley Hospice.