William Edward Schoenleber

William Edward “Bill” Schoenleber, age 81, of Grants Pass, died Monday, October 29, 2007 at Three Rivers Community Hospital.

A funeral service will be at 11:00 a.m., Friday, November 2, 2007 at Grants Pass Masonic Lodge with Past Master Richard Surroz conducting. Interment will follow at Sparlin Cemetery. Hull & Hull Funeral Directors are in charge of arrangements.

Remembrances may be made to Shriners Hospital for Children, 3101 SW Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, Oregon 97201 or to the Bill Schoenleber Memorial Fund, C/O Kalispel Tribe, PO Box 175, Cusick WA 99119.

Bill was born January 1, 1926 in San Antonio, Texas to William & Blanche (Ballard) Schoenleber. In 1944 he graduated from Hot Wells High School in San Antonio, Texas. From 1944 to 1946 during World War II he served in the U.S. Navy in the South Pacific. In 1946 he moved from Texas to Grants Pass. On June 28, 1946 in Grants Pass he married Marion Lane McCormick. From 1950 to 1962 he worked as a police officer for Grants Pass City Police where he was known as “Big Bill.” He was president of Oregon Association of City Officers from 1956 to 1957 and received a commendation letter from J. Edgar Hoover for his police work. From 1964 to 1965 he was the Neighborhood Youth Corps director at Grants Pass High School and a teacher in Josephine County. From 1965 to 1968 he was a guidance councilor with Fort Vannoy Job Corps. From 1968 to 1975 he was a Job Corps Guidance Councilor in Wolf Creek, Heber, Arizona, and Angell, Oregon. During those years, he completed his college education and in 1971 he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Education Guidance and Counseling from Southern Oregon College in Ashland. From 1975 to 1990 he worked as the Community Service Officer for the Spokane and Kalispell tribes. In 1990 he retired and divided his time between Loon Lake, Washington and Grants Pass, Oregon.

His hobbies included fishing the Rogue River and Loon Lake; music – playing the piano, accordion, and harmonica; farming; gardening; and helping in the vineyard.

While living in Grants Pass, his many memberships included Rakes Car Club which he established and was the first hot rod car club in Grants Pass, Newman United Methodist Church, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Hillah Shrine, and 50-year member Grants Pass Masonic Lodge #84. He served as Red Cross disaster chairman during the 1962 Grants Pass Columbus Day storm, 1964 Christmas week flood, Roseburg explosion, and 1965 Pacific Coast tsunami. In the 1960s he served as school board member for Grants Pass School District #7. While living in Washington, he served on the Tri County St. Josephs Hospital board for 25 years in Chewelah, Washington.

In addition to his wife, Marion Schoenleber of Grants Pass; he is survived by two daughters, Suzanne Ginet of Williams and Janet Mastin of Gilbert, Arizona; three sons, William Schoenleber III of Ashland, Jim Schoenleber of Agness, and Mark Schoenleber of Ashland; three sisters, Angele DuBose of Victoria, Texas, Sharon Hurst of Houston, Texas, and Barbara Rust of Central Point; 15 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.