William Bumgarner

Birth: 1934 Death: 2024 William (“Bill”) Dean Bumgarner was born on December 27, 1934, in Springfield, Missouri. In 1935, Bill’s family moved to Stockton, California, where he and his brother, Bob, attended Davis Elementary, a small red-brick school. At Davis, his teacher, a retired U.

S. Marine, made a strong impression on Bill. She was tough, but encouraging, and influenced his early love of math and engineering.



In 1948, Bill’s family moved to San Jose, California where Bill attended Lincoln High School. As an athletic young man, Bill was a member of the football, baseball, and swimming teams. During his senior year, Bill served as Class President and announced Lincoln High’s basketball games, which he greatly enjoyed.

At Lincoln High, Bill made many lifelong friends. In January 1953, Bill began dating Janet McCarroll (and later became her husband). The following year, Bill joined the US Air Force and served with the 58th Air Rescue Squadron.

His squadron conducted missions around the world, including in Japan, Germany, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Panama, Bermuda, Canada, and the Azores. During one particularly harrowing mission, Bill’s SA-16 rescue plane lost power to one of its engines and was forced to make an emergency landing off the coast of Tripoli, Libya in the Mediterranean Sea. After serving in the USAF, Bill attended San Jose State University, where he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering.

Bill also attended the University of Santa Clara for post-graduate studies in Engineering and Math. Bill’s love of math and engineering led to a successful career in space-related technology. He started his career at Lockheed – Missiles and Space where Bill performed operational support for various satellite projects.

Then, Bill worked for the Space Division of General Electric (GE) as Manager of Mission Planning and Control. During his time at GE, he received a number of awards, including the One-in-a-Thousand Club award. After relocating to northern Virginia, Bill joined Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC).

There, he held the position of Vice President (Engineering), overseeing Advanced Engineering and coordinating activities related to the Space Station program. Bill retired from CSC in January 1998. In his retirement, Bill played many rounds with his golf group, the “Fat Boys.

” He had several rounds where he shot his age, including a round of 77 at Pacific Grove Golf Links. Bill continued to play golf until his mid-eighties, finding joy in his time with friends and the friendly competition. Bill married Janet in 1962 and they enjoyed 49 years of marriage.

He was loved dearly, and he loved and was proud of Janet and all his children and grandchildren. Together they raised four children: Mark, Stephen, Kristin, and Sean. He was also blessed with a daughter-in-law, Crawford, two sons-in-law, Rich and Jeff, two granddaughters, Kate and Whitton, and one grandson, Tobias.

His family and friends will miss his humor, his love of sharing a good story, and his bright outlook on life — even during difficult times. Few things upset Bill, but he found bigotry absurd. In addition to a private burial at sea, the family is planning a celebration of Bill’s life in early 2025 in Aptos, California.

Honor with Flowers In memory of William Plant a Living Memorial In memory of William.