Yolo-San Luis Obispo County CA Obituary Project Obituaries.....BOONE , William Bradford December 3 2002 ********************************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/obits/ca/obitsca.htm ********************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Peggy B. Perazzo pbperazzo@comcast.net July 13, 2004, 11:28 pm "The Davis Enterprise," Thursday, December 19, 2002 William B. Boone William Bradford Boone, who traveled around the world seven times in the merchant marine business, built Little League fields and Masonic lodges, worked in the aerospace industry and enjoyed a long, healthy and active retirement, died on Dec. 3, 2002, at Sierra Convalescent Hospital. He was 93 years old. He was born at home in Brooklyn, N.Y., on June 10, 1909. He enjoyed a happy childhood until divorce split the family home, forcing him to leave school after the eighth grade to work to help support the family. His early adolescent life was shaped by hard work in the grocery business and periods of time living with an uncle in rural New Jersey, unable to see his mother. After his mother remarried, she produced three more children whom he always loved and treated fully as his brothers and sister. He showed an early fascination with the sea, spending many hours on the docks of New York watching ships come and go, imagining their exotic destinations and himself in such places. Knowing of this interest, his stepfather called upon an old friend in the merchant marine business and soon he was on the high seas, at the bottom rung of the shipboard pecking order in the galley. But pots and pans were not for him. During off hours he spent time in the engine room and learned enough to hire on there on his next voyage. He eventually earned a high school equivalency certificate and a first engineer's license. After seven trips around the world, the exotic ports of call became humdrum. He returned from a long voyage to find that one of the kids from his old neighborhood had grown up into a lovely young woman. In 1934, he bid farewell to the sea and wed Dorothy Felton at Fort Washington Presbyterian Church in New York City. They made their home in Bridgeport and Milford, Conn., until August 1941, when they hitched a car and trailer, piled in two small children and all their possessions, and drove cross-country to California. They had barely set up household when Pearl Harbor and World War II swept Boone back to sea, his engineering skills and knowledge of ships landing him in the Pacific theater, as an engineering officer on a transport ship delivering troops and equipment to engagements in Iwo Jima, Okinawa and other battles. After WWII, the couple decided that farm life would be good for the children, and hand-built a house in Chino. Soon thereafter, the Korean conflict sent him to San Diego for further military service. Following discharge after Korea, he went to work for Aerojet General in Southern California. The company won important contracts in the new aerospace industry, and opened a plant in Rancho Cordova. Boone moved the family there in 1957, where they lived until 1972. While in Rancho Cordova, he helped establish the Rancho Cordova Little League and the Masonic Lodge known as American River Lodge #795. He and other parents built the Little League fields behind St. John Vianny Catholic Church. When their last child graduated from Cordova High School in 1972, he and his wife moved to San Luis Obispo, where they lived for 25 years in the Laguna Lake mobile home village next to a golf course and close enough to the ocean to go fishing and clamming. He continued his Masonic work, serving as Master of King David's Lodge #209 in 1982. When his wife began to suffer from Alzheimer's in the early1990s, he cared for her at home as long as he could, before moving to Davis in 1996 to be nearer their children. She lived at Sierra Convalescent Hospital, where he visited her daily until she died in 1999. During this time, Boone volunteered at the Davis Senior Center and developed an interest in computers. He purchased a Macintosh computer and attended classes to learn how to use it to write a narrative family history. He lived at Covell Gardens, where he developed a special friendship with longtime Davis resident Jean Stanford. They cared for each other and kept each other company until he fell ill and moved into Sierra in March 2002. He is survived by his children, William Boone Jr. of Sacramento, Patricia Boone of Anchorage, Alaska, and Daniel Boone of Davis; and grandchildren, Brad Boone of Sacramento, Krista Boone of Columbus, Ohio, Eryn Boone of Girdwood, Ark., and Ariel Boone of Davis. He elected to have his ashes scattered at sea, where he spent so many years. Additional Comments: Submitted with the permission of the "The Davis Enterprise," 315 G Street, Davis, CA 95616. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/yolo/obits/gob697boone.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/caobfiles/ File size: 5.1 Kb