“Enjoy every day on purpose,” was the mantra often shared by William Russell Croyle, who was born on February 8, 1920, to William R. and Minnie Snapp Croyle in Spokane, Washington. He passed away peacefully at home in his sleep on April 12, 2021, in Santa Ynez, California.

Bill enlisted in the Marines in October, 1940, and served in the Guadalcanal campaign. He served in intelligence throughout his military career. His many accomplishments as a Marine included achieving fluency in Japanese. He was on active duty until 1946, including service in China, and again from 1952-55, which included service in Japan. He retired from the Marine Corps Reserve in 1980 as a Lt. Colonel.

He was employed by Tidewater, Inc. for 25 years (the company named three vessels after him), serving in many leadership roles, from tugboat captain to Senior Vice President, retiring in 1989. At the same time, he was employed by the federal government through the Naval Research Laboratory, retiring in 1991. Throughout this period, he resided in Santa Barbara, California, Morgan City and New Orleans, Louisiana, and again in Santa Barbara.

In 1945, he married Elcena Torrance of Seattle, Washington, who died in their 62nd year of marriage in 2007. Bill and Elcena together created a family life for which we are forever grateful. Bill was a devoted husband and a remarkable father. He was a dedicated autodidact, a passionate reader of books about a wide breadth of subjects, including history, science, language, mathematics, philosophy and current affairs. He was admired by his family, friends and colleagues for his integrity, magnanimity and intellectual rigor. He was an avid collector of facts, words, and quotations. Bill enjoyed family, friends, wine, music, long walks, and a martini at 5:30p.m.

Bill is survived by his daughters Kirby of Sandy, UT and Kim of Santa Ynez, CA, sons William of Littleton, CO and Robert of Rockville, MD, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, consider a donation to either the American Association for the Advancement of Science (https://www.aaas.org/support) or the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation (https://engage.mcsf.org/o/51656/p/salsa/donation/c...).


Santa Barbara News-Press Obituary: https://newspress.com/croyle-william-russell/