William Lloyd Hyatt (Bill) was born in Seminole, Oklahoma on February 20, 1928 and passed away in Bakersfield, California on December 22, 2019. He was the youngest of 12 children born to Laina Main and William Franklin Hyatt. He served in the Army Air Corps for 7 years, including 3 years in Korea.
He is preceded in death by his wife of 55 years, Ida Marie Hays–Hyatt. He is survived by their children, Carla M. Hyatt, Judy Hyatt Austin and her husband, Mike; William L. Hyatt, Jr. and his wife Brenda; and Dale Rushing and her husband Bill. He is survived by 9 grandchildren: Brandon, William III, Benjamin, Beverly, Daniel, Sarah, Anna, Michael, and Lauren, and 14 great-children. One grandchild, Melissa, preceded him.
Bill worked in Bakersfield in the oilfields for Hagestad Drilling Co. and Montgomery Drilling Co. for about 20 years before starting his own oilfield service business, Bill’s Pipe Service. He had offices in Ventura and Clearlake, California, as well as Bakersfield. He sold his business and retired in 1976.
Bill’s love of fishing was matched only by his wife Ida. They had a motorhome they kept at Morro Bay and an ocean boat on which they fished. They took their motorhome on trips to Mammoth, California, as well as annual pilgrimages to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl. They might leave for Las Vegas and call in a week from New York. Later they kept a houseboat at Lake San Antonio where they would meet with a group of friends who also had houseboats. They always returned with stories to tell. Some stories involved bears. There were also stories involving rattlesnakes and coyotes.
After the death of his wife Ida, he found happiness again with Beatrice Austin Hyatt, whom he married in 2005 at the age of 77. They were married for 10 years until her death in 2014 from a stroke.
In the last several years of his life, Bill found much enjoyment and made new friends at the Greenacres Senior Center.
Bill will be missed greatly by his family and friends, who knew him as a kind and generous man.
