Bill was born in Seattle on October 22, 1927, and died peacefully in Edmonds on August 6, 2012, after a brief illness.

Bill attended Roosevelt High School before serving in both the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Army (1945-1946). He then attended the University of Washington on the G.I. Bill, graduating in 1951 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. In 1953 Bill began his career at Safeco Corporation; after holding numerous positions with the company, he retired in 1986 as Senior Vice President—Finance. While chair of Safeco’s charitable giving committee, the company presented the City of Seattle with its first Medic I van.

In his earlier years, Bill enjoyed hunting, fishing, camping, skiing and—most of all—boating. From the time he was 20 until the unprecedented snowstorm of 1996 that collapsed roofs at the Edmonds Marina and took his boat and a hundred others’ to the bottom of the harbor, Bill was never without a boat of some kind. In his later years, Bill enjoyed a peaceful life in Edmonds, mixing reading and investing with obtaining his pilot’s license and adventurous world travel.

Bill married Bunny Gillett in 1949 and celebrated 63 years of marriage to her earlier this year. They had three children. Daughter Joni Ostergaard (husband Will Patton) of Edmonds and son Bruce Hammersla (wife Pam) of St. Louis, Missouri, survive him; son Bill Hammersla preceded him in death in 1976. Bill is...