Bill was born in Dana Point, California, Dec. 27, 1957, and moved to Alaska in 2005. He served in the U.S. Navy from September 1975 to September 1979, served on the USS Tarawa and was honorably discharged.
Bill helped many people in Willow as a handyman. He was an expert welder and his burn barrels with cutouts of Alaska animals are in many people’s yards throughout the community. He worked part time at Willow True Value Hardware and at the First Baptist Church in Willow.
Surviving are his mother, Elizabeth Stapleton, of Tucson, Arizona; sisters, Mary Stapleton of Prairie Village, Kansas, and Catherine Stearns of Payson, Arizona; brothers, Mark Stapleton of Tucson and Paul Stapleton of Pearland, Texas.
Services are at 2 p.m., Jan. 25 at the First Baptist Church in Willow. Bill will be greatly missed.
Source: Frontiersman, 19 January 2015