William "Bill" P. McNamara

WOW! Dad has left this adventure surrounded by loving family to join family and friends in a new a wonderful journey with our lord, Jesus Christ and his loving family and friends who have left our early existence before him.

Bill McNamara (William P. McNamara) was born October 22, 1925 in Yakima WA to Thomas Albertus & Lillian (Sedge) McNamara. Bill lived with his family on several pioneer ranches in various parts of the Yakima Valley, the Athanum, at the top of the Wenas Grade, and then to the Nile Valley.

Bill married Barbara Jean Wheeler on October 21, 1949, and lived and then moved to Yakima. Bill and Barbara were blessed with 2 children, Joseph P. McNamara and Donna J. Cochran.

Bill got a job with McVey Plastering 11 days after they were married and worked for Jim McVey for 30 years. From 1969 to 1978 Bill sold Scorpion Snowmobiles from a small home garage and later from a shop on Fruitvale Blvd. Bill and Joe started McNamara Construction, Inc. in 1978 and built Swimming Pools in the Yakima Valley and various other areas in Central Washington.

Bill enjoyed hiking, camping, Jeeping, dirt biking, snowmobiling and riding horses. He and a close friend Charles Foster, built Tote goats (mini bikes) for their sons to use in the mountains.

Bill also enjoyed hunting and in 1961 he bagged his buck, Elk, and Goat, all used to feed his family.

Bill and Barb spent his early retirement years traveling across the US in their motor home. They traveled to Alaska with his brothers and their wives, Paul & Bonnie McNamara and Mike and Betty McNamara. Bill & Barb also traveled across 29 states to Colorado, Nashville Tennessee, South Dakota, and one trip took them clear to Vermont.

Bill is survived by his loving wife of nearly 67 years, his son Joseph P. (Michelle) McNamara, daughter Donna J. (Steve) Cochran, and grandchildren DeAnna (Phil) Potvin, CarriAnn (Charles) Ross, Breane (Scott) Blodgett, Stacie (Pat) Killian, Nicole Cochran, Shelly Gorman Peterson, and Chad Gorman, 17 Great Grandchildren and one Great Great Granddaughter.

The family would like to thank the staff of Fieldstone Memory Care for their tender and loving care for the past eleven months, where everyone there became an extension of our family.

If you are inclined to send flowers or donations, the family would like to encourage donations to Heartlinks Hospice who caring staff made Bill’s final months comfortable. This was a great service to not only Bill, but the whole family.

Visitation will be held at Keith & Keith Funeral Home on Friday, August 19, 2016 from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. Later, a Memorial Mass will be held at St. John’s Catholic Church in Naches on Friday, Sept. 9, 2016 at 1:00 p.m.

To share a memory of Bill, please visit www.keithandkeith.com