Willie "Bud" Dirksen

Willie “Bud” Dirksen, age 84, of Grants Pass, died Friday, December 2, 2011 at Three Rivers Community Hospital.

A memorial service will be at 2:00 p.m., Friday, December 9, 2011 at the Grants Pass Seventh Day Adventist Church, 1360 NE 9th Street with Pastor Marvin Clark officiating. Private interment will be at Eagle Point National Cemetery. Hull & Hull Funeral Directors are in charge of arrangements.

Remembrances in Bud’s memory may be made to Better Life Television, PO Box 766, Grants Pass, Oregon 97528.

Bud was born February 18, 1927 in Hutchinson, Kansas to John & Mary Dirksen the youngest of nine children. During World War II he served honorably in the Merchant Marines. In 1947 in San Francisco, California he married Alice “June” Morris and together they raised three children. She preceded him in death in 1985. Bud worked for Sears in San Francisco, California before retiring to Grants Pass in 1971. From 1971 to 1978 he owned and managed the Holiday Mobile Manor trailer park in Grants Pass. Bud also obtained his Oregon Car Dealers license and began buying and selling used cars. In 1978 he started Bud’s Auto Sales, becoming a fixture in the Grants Pass auto sales community. In 1987 Bud married Alta “June” Tate and they would have celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary next February.

Bud was very involved with the Grants Pass Seventh Day Adventist Church where he served as a Deacon as well as a greeter for Saturday services.

He was very involved with cars and enjoyed anything to do with automobiles with a heavy emphasis on the classics.

Bud is survived by his wife, Alta” June” Dirksen of Grants Pass, Oregon; a sister, Sue Galloway of Paradise, California; two children, Larry Dirksen of Gold Hill, Oregon and Linda McIntosh of Salem, Oregon; seven grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

In addition to his first wife, Alice “June” Dirksen, he was preceded in death by a son, Bob Dirksen in 2004 and seven siblings.