Loving husband, father, grandfather, son, brother, uncle. William David Themar, Sr. aged 94 died peacefully at his home in Kennewick, Washington on July 28, 2024. Bill was born in Chicago, Illinois April 23, 1930, to Alice Diane and Herman David Themar. He married Betty Jean Harter in Pasco, Washington in 1953. They have 5 children.

After basic training, Bill served his country in the Army at Fort Lewis, Washington. He spent his last 6 months at Army Camp Hanford in Eastern Washington. Just weeks before he was due to be discharged, he met Betty at a dance in Pasco. They spent that evening and ultimately the rest of their lives together. They married the following year and celebrated 60 years together before she passed away in 2013. He has loved her for 71 years. Bill & Betty moved to Chicago, Illinois for one year. When Betty became too homesick for Southeastern Washington, Bill brought her home. They raised their family in the Tri-Cities.

Bill worked at Hanford from 1955 until his retirement in 1989. He started by collecting vegetation samples around the Hanford Reservation. Within a year, he was offered a job as a technician testing metal strength. He worked for multiple contractors over the years, retiring from Westinghouse Hanford Company.

Bill became an avid baseball fan while a young child living half a block from Wrigley Field in Chicago. When he was 6, his mother would make lemonade for him to sell on game days as people passed their apartment complex. His first job at the field was picking up trash between rows in the stands. He soon upgraded to collecting the cushions fans had rented and left in the seats. He also worked at the concession area putting lids on the paper cups of lemonade that the vendors sold, then collecting and stacking empty bottles left in the stands. As a worker, he was able to catch random innings of the Cubs when the work ebbed. He has many fond memories of watching some of the great players of the 1940s. Sharing this passion for the Cubs with his father was one of his fondest memories. They would listen to the first game of a double header on the radio, then walk to the ballpark for the second game. He saw "the best pitcher in the major leagues" Dizzy Dean pitch, and at the end of his life he still could remember the starting line-up for the Cubs from when he was a kid.

Bill played both fastpitch and slow pitch softball in the men's leagues in Richland and Kennewick over the years. He supported his children's efforts in school sports, as well as his son in Little League through Pony League. He coached his four daughters in women's slow pitch softball leagues in Kennewick with his son as his assistant coach. Betty was the team scorekeeper. In addition, he loved going to watch the grandkids and great grandkids whether it was playing baseball, softball, basketball, wrestling, football, soccer, or performing on the violin. He did his best to show up.

It wasn't only in the area of sports that he enjoyed and supported his family. He instigated epic water fights in summer and snowball fights in winter. He helped his kids up onto the roof of the house to watch 4th of July fireworks from the Highland Drive-In. He painted hopscotch on the driveway then patio for all three generations of his progeny. He took his son hunting. He helped the Burt's harvest their corn. He taught the grandkids to play lawn darts. Helped with math homework, even over the phone. He and Betty played pinochle and cribbage with their kids and grandkids. They jitterbugged around the living room to show the grandkids what real dancing looked like. Dropping everything when a grandkid would call asking for a ride to practice or a trip to Zips during lunch break at high school, he did his best to show up as often as he could.

In midlife Bill became an avid woodworker, learning many skills from his father-in-law Harold. He made end tables, TV tables, and bookshelves. Clocks, lamps, and coffee tables from redwood slabs and burls. He made Betty a hutch for her special dinnerware. He also made each daughter a baby cradle. He made large wooden toys for his grandchildren, from airplanes and trucks to doll cradles and doll houses. While his wood working reduced in scale as he aged, he continued to craft small toys for his great grandchildren, even helping some put together their own birdhouses that he pre-cut for them. He made the great grandkids boats that they painted themselves then floated in a creek at the annual Mt. Rainier camping trips. Bill and Betty attended all of those trips as long as they could. Sitting around the campfire and hiking the trails with their kids, grandkids, and great grandkids were favorite summer events.

Bill was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When attendance became too difficult he continued to read his scriptures for comfort and guidance in his last years. He valued all the people in this community and relished serving God.

Bill was preceded in death by his wife Betty, parents Herman David and Alice Diane Themar, brother John Drais Themar, sister Shirley Louise Rogier, brother James Anthony Bellou. He is survived by his four daughters Helen Samuels, Janice Mize, Terri and Cliff Burt, Tami Graves, and son Bill and Hyang Themar, 19 grandchildren, 40 great grandchildren, 1 great-great granddaughter, and numerous nieces and nephews.

His funeral will be held Monday, August 5, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. at the LDS Church, 820 S. Buntin St., Kennewick. A graveside service will follow at Desert Lawn Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to our palliative and hospice care provider: Heartlinks at 204 W. 2nd Street, Grandview, WA 98930.