Willie Victor Cathcart

Willie (Bill) Victor Cathcart was born to Laverna Mae and Joe Bascomb Cathcart on June 21st, 1934. This was during the hardest years of the depression for Joe Cathcart's family. We had a hard time getting enough to eat for the family of four kids. We had no money for a doctor. Mother figured out when the baby would be born, June 21st, and on June 20th she rode on a bus 90 miles from Ponchatoula, Louisiana to New Orleans where there was a state hospital that would take care of Mother and baby without charge. Laverna stayed at the hospital for nine days and then walked a block with baby Willie to get on a bus to return home to the family that was camped in a park. Bill was healthy, fun, and grew fast. He went to school in Colorado through his sophomore year of high school and then went to California when he was 16 in 1951. Bill stayed with brother Earl and sister in law Myrtle in California. He got a job working in a service station for a few months until his Dad died in December of 1951, and he returned to Colorado. In June of 1952 Bill went back to California on the bus. This time he went to LA to visit our half brothers. Bill stayed one night with half brother Raymond. Raymond took him to half brother Earl and then Earl took him to half brother Bill's. After Bill's visit with Bill, he took the bus to Modesto and brother Earl's. Bill went back to work at the service station, and sent most of his wages home to Mother. Bill met Bonnie while working at the service station. Bonnie was working at a drug store, and they were married October 16, 1952. Bill bought the service station in Keys near Modesto, California. After a few months he sold the station and bought a larger station in Modesto, California in the early fifties. He stayed there for three years then sold that station. After that he tried selling life insurance for two years but did not like that very much. Bill and family moved Sonora, California where he worked at a service station for awhile and then bought it. They lived there for two years, and then he sold this station and moved the family to Toledo, Oregon where our sister Polly and husband Chuck Atchley and family lived. Bill got a job at the paper mill in 1962 and worked there for 28 years until he retired in 1990 at the age of 57. Bill found a place to live on golf course property. Bonnie worked in the Pro Shop and Bill took care of the grass on the golf course. When he wasn't at the mill, he would take care of the grass on the golf course. In 1968 he bought a larger home in Toledo, Oregon. By then Bill and Bonnie had four children: Ronald born December 24th, 1953, Carol born February 22nd, 1957, Cheryl born June 30th, 1960, and John born July 16, 1961. They had a lot of room in the big house, so for two years they took in teenage foster girls. Bonnie always liked birds, fish, and all kinds of pets so after they discontinued the foster care, Bill remodeled the basement of the home, and put in a tropical fish store. The store did so well that they rented a larger place in Toledo. Later they moved the store to a building in Newport on Highway 101. They did very well with the business which sold all kinds of birds, fish, and other small pets and supplies. Their daughter Cheryl worked with Bonnie in the store, and Bill helped when he wasn't at the mill. After Bill retired from the paper mill, he worked full time in the pet store. Bonnie had heart problems and deteriorating health, so in 1993 Cheryl purchased the store from Bill and Bonnie. Bonnie passed away in 2004. Cheryl also had heart problems like her mother and passed away a year later in 2005. In 1987 Bill bought 40 acres of land with a house near Toledo for $47,000. He put down $7,000 and paid off the rest in ten years, 1997. Bill had excellent health until shortly after he retired from the mill. He developed lung problems from years of heavy smoking, and work environment at the paper mill. He was on oxygen most of the time. His son John lived with him and took care of him. Bill was always optimistic, and never missed a family reunion. This year, 2016, our family reunion will be in California; Bill will be missed.

Tributes

Willie Victor Cathcart

June 21, 1934 - December 17, 2016