William A. Hixson

William A. Hixson, 86, of La Grande, died May 13 at a local care center.

A celebration of life will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday at Loveland Funeral Chapel and Crematory, 1508 Fourth Street, La Grande.

Bill was born June 19, 1921, to Elijah William and Frances Edna (Schiller) at Missouri Flat in Baker County. He attended grade school in a country school near Pleasant Valley and high school in Baker City. After high school he began working in the sawmill and then went to log cutting.

In 1941 he tried to enlist in the Navy after Pearl Harbor and was refused but was drafted into the Army in 1942. He was sent to Newport News, Va., and worked on ships picking up wounded soldiers in places such as Africa, Italy and France. He worked in the medical corps and received four combat ribbons. During one of his leaves from the service, he met Dorothy Combs, and she traveled to Newport News to marry him in 1945.

He was released from the service in late 1945 and went back to Baker City and then Pondosa where he resumed cutting logs.

He moved to La Grande in 1951 and continued logging until 1974 when he and his son-in-law started M & H Rigging. He retired from there in 1989 and later worked as credit manager for Eagle Truck until he retired permanently.

He is survived by his wife, Dorothy; his daughter, Robert and her husband, Donald Miller; four granddaughters; five great-grandsons; and two great-granddaughters, all of La Grande.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions be made to the Blue Mountain Humane Society or the American Diabetes Association.