WILLIAM JOHN BILL' HUBSCHMITT
OCT. 30, 1933 - SEPT. 1, 2009
William John (Bill) Hubschmitt, 75, of Chehalis, died Sept. 1, 2009 of acute leukemia at Capital Medical Center in Olympia. An informal celebration of his life was held in Seattle Sept. 5.
Bill Hubschmitt was born at home Oct. 30, 1933 to Mildred Hannah Hubschmitt and Ralph Hubschmitt in Patterson, New Jersey.
When Bill was 11 years old the family moved across country to Edmonds, Wash. Aside from his service in the Army, a year in Texas working on his master's degree and three years teaching in Ghana, Africa, Bill was a Washington state resident for the rest of his life.
After completing high school in Edmonds, Bill attended community college and then served in the Army. Though he wanted to be a sports announcer, he pursued other dreams when he found out he would have to become a sports writer first.
Upon completing his military service, Bill graduated from Western Washington State University with a bachelors of science and a K-12 teaching certificate.
After living at Warm Beach and teaching for many years in the Stanwood School District, he participated in a National Science Foundation program for middle school science teachers and graduated from Texas A&M with a master's degree in science education.
He then took his family on a three-year adventure to live in Ghana while he taught science to the children of Kaiser Aluminum employees. Upon returning to Warm Beach in 1970, Bill taught in the Arlington School District, first as a middle school science and math teacher and then rounding out his 30-year teaching career as a fourth grade teacher.
During his last few years of teaching and after retir- ing, Bill drove buses for Grayline Tours.
Over the years many Grayline passengers enjoyed his tales of Northwest history, also learning about the local flora and fauna from their driver, "Hub."
In retirement, he enjoyed listening to sports on the radio, all kinds of travel (local and cruising the world), watching football, basketball and golf on television, singing, attending his grandchildren's and step-grandchildren's sports events, dancing and golfing, occasionally.
His children wrote: "Dad loved life and his family; he enjoyed both to the fullest."
He is survived by his wife, Shirley Hubschmitt of Chehalis; son, Michael Hubschmitt of Redmond Ore.; daughter and son-inlaw, Melissa and Kevin Larson of Seattle; daughter and son-in-law Marci and Randy Slickers of Camano Island; daughter and son-in-law, Micki and Shawn Scoggin of Marysville; grandchildren, Presley and Sebastian Hubschmitt; Kristoffer Larson; Jamie Gibbs, Lindsey and Jeremy Ogdon, Amanda and Ryan O'Neil, Christina, Taran, Wil and Mailie Slickers; Jordan Erdahl and Megan Scoggin; great grandchildren Makenna Linn, Erianna and Livia Ogdon; Dublin and Audree O'Neil; and Trinity Cleary; four step-daughters, nine stepgrandchildren, and five stepgreat grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Robert, his granddaughter Shawna and his beloved son, Matthew.
