William H (Bill) Wiester

William H (Bill) Wiester, 91, of Chehalis, WA., passed away at Centralia Providence Hospital September 21, 2017. He was born January 9, 1926 living in Morton. He was born a Boren, but was adopted at age 2 1/2 by Howard and Elma Wiester from Skamokawa.

He was raised on the Wiester Sunrise Dairy Farm with his biological brother Bob. He was a Boy Scout. He graduated from Cathlamet in 1944. He was a four year letterman for the "Mules." Bill loved baseball and even wrote a letter to the Cleveland Indians. He played baseball, football, and basketball for his school. As a teenager, Bill was driving a team of horses on Taylor Sands Seining Ground on the Columbia River out of Astoria, pulling in Salmon. He was a trapper, having a trap line by the farm. When he was 14, he gave some muskrat pelts to his Dad, and had a fur coat made in Portland for his Mom.

After high school, he went into the military service, as a Merchant Marine. He was a seaman aboard the SS D. G. Scofield. He went to Saipan, Tinian, and Guam in early 1945. He then married the love of his life, Jeanne Olson on March 1, 1945. They were married 61 years, raising their 3 children. He was a state fire warden in Wahkiakum County. He also butchered Salmon at the Altoona Cannery. Bill then went into the logging business and was a high climber and a head loader. He worked for Crown Zellerbach and Van Vleet, and a short stint in Weed, Ca. The family also lived at Gearhart, Oregon and Cannon Beach, Oregon. He left logging and started his law enforcement career. He was a corrections officer at the Salem Penitentiary. While doing that, he also washed dishes, and set bowling pins, to make ends meet. Then, his family of 5 moved to Raymond, WA to be a police officer. This is where he started purchasing and using bloodhounds for search and rescue. After about 2 years, he moved the family and bloodhounds to Randle, WA to be an East end deputy for the Lewis County Sheriff's Department. After 2 years they all moved to Centralia WA (with the bloodhounds). Eventually moving to Chehalis for over 50 years. He was elected Sheriff, and holds the longest running 5 terms, or 20 years 1967-1987, a total of 28 years with the department. While he was Sheriff, he was president of the Washington State Sheriff's and Police Chief's. During his tenure, he was also on the policy board for the Western States Information Network, including Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii, and Alaska. He had his bloodhounds for a few years, including, Sol, Maggie, and the well known Ol' Blue(Pat). After retiring, Bill accepted an exempt appointment by the Washington State Patrol with the Western States Information Network on March 18, 1987 as the Washington State Coordinator assigned to the narcotics section. He worked there over 6 years before retiring. Bill moved to Colonial Residence in Centralia in June of 2016 where he lived until he passed away.

Bill was the only first aid instructor in the area for years. He taught Weyerhaeuser, the PUD, Steam Plant, and many more around the county and beyond.

He was an avid golfer and was especially proud of winning the Washington State Sheriffs and Police Chiefs trophy 10 times throughout the state. His hobbies included golf, hunting elk, deer, ducks, grouse, and pheasant. He also liked fishing, and camping with his family. Bill used a power saw to carve totem poles, owls and Indian heads. One totem pole was shipped to Hawaii. He also wrote wonderful poetry since his early school days. He wrote poetry for his family, friends, and many other poems. He was a story teller and told jokes to anyone that would listen. Bill told so many true stories, that when he was telling a joke, he would have you hooked to the end, and then BOOM...the punchline.

Bill was preceded in death by parents Howard and Elma Wiester; his wife Jeanne; daughter Melba, daughter Jo Crowe; granddaughter Jody Crowe; great granddaughter Kayla Whitsett-Locke. He was the last living sibling, preceded in death by 8 brothers and sisters, Ruth, Sam, Edith, Earl, Marge, Francis, Bob, and Marie. Bill is survived by his son William A (Charlotte) Wiester, daughter Janice (Tom) Reid; grandchildren, Leanne Crowe, Thad (Susie DeForrest) Locke, William R (Heidi Bratsch) Wiester, Dr. Lisa (Dr. Tony) Masiello; great grandchildren Kevin (Amy), Jordan, Stephanie(Isaac), Leann, Jesse, Lance, Tyler, Carson, and Harley; great great grandchildren Mason, Brooks, Hera, Kayden, and Camille.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Bethel Church at 132 Kirkland Rd Chehalis, WA., on Saturday, October 21 @ 1:00 with appetizers following, on site, in the Family Life Center. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Lewis County K-9 Unit @ 345 W Main St, Chehalis, WA 98532.

- Paid Obituary -