owlwest.html

The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., June 28, 1990, page 5

WEST

William Lester West, 74, died June 22, 1990, in The Dalles. He was the son of William Lester West and Emma Viola Benedict West, born Sept. 28, 1915 on a homestead in Catlow Valley, Ore.
At the age of two he moved with his parents to Dufur, Ore., and started school there. He later graduated from high school at Wapitinia Ore. Following graduation he worked for the Warm Springs Indian Agency. In the fall of 1934 he moved to Centerville where he engaged in farming.
Mr. West served in the U.S. Navy from 1939 to 1947 becoming an aviation mechanic and later flight engineer, attaining that the rank of Chief Petty Officer serving mainly in Central America and the South Pacific. He served as the flight engineer aboard the world's largest amphibious plane and he founded two flight instrument training schools which are still functioning.
Following his discharge he returned to farming in Centerville and also served as Chief of Police in Goldendale from 1954 to 1960, when he became a rural mail carrier for the Centerville area and then Madras, later retiring to his home on Bowman Creek.
He married Josephine Koonce October 7, 1949 in Vancouver, Wash. He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Mr. West enjoyed his years of farming and in his later years was involved in prospecting and desert travel. He was a competent genealogist and spent many years in active research both for himself and others. He was a master gardener. He loved his family and friends and was most happy in the company of his grandchildren.
Mr. West is survived by his wife, Josephine, of Goldendale; four sons: Peter, of Carson, Wash.; Jonathan and David, of Goldendale; and Timothy of Provo, Utah; eight grandsons four granddaughters, and a sister, a Elizabeth Loftin.
He was preceded in death by his parents, a brother, Darrell; a son, Stephen; a sister, Viola Sturgis and a grandson, Costelleo.
Interment was in the Spring Creek Cemetery. Active pallbearers were his sons, Peter, Jonathan, David and Timothy; grandson Taeven Thompson and Zane Kerns. Honorary pallbearers were Bill Farrell, Elmer Sikes, Alton Tomlinson, George Hathaway, Howard Masters and E.C. Sturgis.