December 13, 1921-March 11, 2012

William Owsley passed away from natural causes at Ivinson Memorial Hospital in Laramie on March 11, 2012. Bill was born in Ashland, Mont., to Daniel and Agnes Stoner Owsley, and grew up in Sheridan, Wyo. During WWII, he served in Europe as a Tech SGT aircraft mechanic with the 599th Bomber Squadron, 9th Army Air Core.

Following the war, he married his beloved wife Norma Lou Cook of Sheridan on June 21, 1945, a union that lasted 37 years until her death in 1986. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Management from the University of Wyoming and was employed in 1951 by the Fish Division of the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission at the Como Bluff and Story Fish Hatcheries. In 1958, he transferred to the Game Division and served as a Game Warden in Lusk and Laramie until retiring in 1978. Bill then worked in the equipment room at Corbett Gym on the University of Wyoming campus until retirement.

He is preceded in death by his parents; wife; and brother Vernon.

He is survived by two sons, Douglas William, of Jeffersonton, Va., and Gregory Warner, of Manteca, Calif.; daughters-in-law Susanne Davies and Janet Stender; four granddaughters; one grandson; and one great-grandson.

He was a 50+-year member of the Accepted Scottish Rite of Free Masonry of Wyoming, and a lifetime Kalif Shriner. Bill was a founding member of the Wyoming Archaeological Society.

A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. on June 26 at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Cathedral in Laramie, the Very Rev. Marilyn Engstrom presiding. A luncheon reception will follow the service.

On July 2, his remains will be interred next to Norma Lou in the Masonic section of the Sheridan, Wyoming Municipal Cemetery.

Findagrave.com - Mar. 2012.