William L. "Bill" Dalton

Born in 1927, Bill Dalton's childhood spanned the Great Depression, but his father, Harry Dalton's steady Army Band Leader paycheck protected the family from the economic turmoil of the '30s.

When Bill was 11 he discovered The Boy Scouts of America. Being the son of an Army band director, he has faint recall of a series of Army bases but vividly recalls the army base at Corozal, on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal. His family moved there in 1938 and he promptly joined a Boy Scout troop at the base.

Scouting provided adventure in the jungle around Corozal, where Bill and his friends discovered secret places, new animals and amazing bugs. They swam in the Panama Canal, with its 30-foot tides, and in the French canal, watching for allegators.

Scouting also reinforced the values instilled by his mother, Estelle Wise Dalton. He learned a sense of responsibility, the benefit of public service and the lifetime importance of being physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight, as set forth in the Scout Law.

In 1940, as World War Two began in Europe, the family returned to the states. His older brother, Harry Jr., enlisted in the Army, eventually being involved in many decisive European battles including the Battle of the Bulge. Bill, still in his teens, he remained in high school, graduating in 1945.

Called by his sense of patriotism, duty and family tradition, Bill enlisted in the Army at the age of 18. Military training prepared Bill for the invasion of Japan, with expected casualty estimates of over a million. However, following use of two atomic bombs, the Japanese surrender made the invasion unnecessary.

Leaving Tacoma, Washington for Japan on the USS Herald of the Morning in December 1945, the two week voyage on the northern Pacific turned into a month, as the ship battled a typhoon. "The enormous wave action washed over upper deck heads, carring the contents to the lower deck troop quarters. Some areas were flooded a foot deep with the waste from the kitchen and troop facilities and many feared that the ship might sink." Arriving in Japan on Christmas day, the beauty of Mt. Fujiyama was in stark contrast to the sunken ships in Tokyo Bay and the utter devastation - nothing but rubble and debris for miles and miles.

Discharged a year later, Bill returned to school, received an A.A. in business administration and joined J.C.Penney stores in Ontario, California. There he met Ann, whom he married in 1951. Over the next 20 years their three daughters, Denise Ann, Mary Beth and Kristen Lee Dalton, were born.

During this time, Bill's continued interest in the Boy Scouts of America took him from troop leader to professional District Director in East Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Fresno, followed by service as Field Director in Salt Lake City. In his final career move in 1977, Bill became the North Central Washington Boy Scout Executive, the highest possible post in a local Boy Scout council, from which he retired in 1992.

Their devout Christian faith helped Bill and Ann through Ann's illness with cancer until her death in 1993. After a two year struggle of living without her, a voice of clarity and healing told Bill, "Ann's not coming home anymore." It was time to move on.

Shortly thereafter Bill met Judy Meinzer, a teller at a local bank. After dating, they married in June 1995. Bill now works part-time at Safeway, "retired, remarried and renewed," and looking forward to what life has to offer next.

• His community activities have included:
• Past Vice-President NCW Museum Board of Trustees
• Past Chair of Christian Business Committee
• Loaned Executive Chelan/Douglas "United Way"
• Active member Church of the Nazarene
• Volunteer, Grand Columbia Council of the B.S.A.
• Bill is a Paul Harris Fellow and has had many supporting roles in Rotary, enjoying active participation in the Rotary auctions.

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