‘A hero to many’

A funeral took place in Vancouver last Friday for La Center resident Bill Hillgaertner, who had a long career in law enforcement and encouraged young people to learn about the U.S. Marine Corps.

Already weakened by mesothelioma, Hillgaertner became ill toward the end of an international cruise and died after several days in a Japanese hospital Oct. 17. He was 79.

Gwen Wyttenbach met Hillgaertner in Annapolis, Maryland, in the 1960s during the three years she dated his academy roommate. They lost touch when her husband joined the Navy, but reconnected through Facebook and met up in person on the East Coast a year ago.

“I got to know Bill on weekends during the three years that I dated my husband at the Naval Academy,” she said. “Bill was a patriot and a public servant to be admired by all, and an all-around good guy. He will be missed by all, especially me.”

Hillgaertner, of La Center, is survived by two children, Leon Hillgaertner and Nona Hillgaertner Mallicoat, also of La Center, one grandson, Hunter, a junior at La Center High School, two brothers and one sister.

Hillgaertner graduated from Hillsboro High School in Oregon at 16, became a volunteer firefighter for Orenco and joined the Oregon Air National Guard/Air Force Reserve at 17. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1958, attaining the rank of lance corporal before being selected for four years of study at the U.S. Naval Academy. He graduated in 1963 as a second lieutenant then served in the Dominican Republic before training as a translator-interrogator. He saw combat during two tours in Vietnam, including the 1968 Tet Offensive. Friends recall he recounted stories of how he used to pass as Vietnamese.

His daughter, Nona, also served in the Marine Corps before embarking on a career with the Washington Employment Security Department. Both were active leading the Lewis and Clark Young Marine Program, encouraging young people to embrace the Marine ethic.

Hillgaertner worked as an arson investigator, river patrol officer and a detective for the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office. He completed his master’s degree in public administration at Lewis and Clark College and worked as a trial assistant in Benton County before coming to Camas as chief in 1979, serving until 1992. The latter part of his tenure was as director of public safety when Camas police and fire departments combined, an experiment that was later reversed.

In 1988, he attended the FBI Academy, running the same obstacle courses he did with the Marine Corps 25 years earlier.

Later, he worked as head of security for Intel and concluded his law enforcement career with the Washington State Patrol truck inspection department in north Clark County.

Aside from his police job in Camas, he was an active leader in community affairs. His strategy, often with considerable assistance from his then-wife Mary Shearer, was to join an ailing organization, help it regroup, then recruit others to keep it running efficiently.

He worked with Community Chest, Camas-Washougal Special Olympics and was a charter member of the Kiwanis Cub of Greater Camas-Washougal. 

His sense of fun helped create the Camas Marching Kazoo Band which performed in parades. He was a 1983 founder of Blue Parrot Theatre Co., serving on its board and appearing in productions. When the troupe performed “Play It Again, Sam,” he portrayed the ghost of Humphrey Bogart. He and his family also performed with the Champoeg Historical Pageant on Oregon.

He was a charter member of the Columbia River Detachment of the Marine Corps League, serving as its first commandant in 1992.

In retirement, he worked part-time for United Natural Foods Incorporated (UNFI) in Ridgefield and was a keen supporter of La Center school sports and the Young Marines program.

“He was a wonderful man, a hero to many, and a man of many stories,” said Holly Lewis of Fairview, Oregon. She met Hillgaertner through the Young Marines and took a job cleaning his house to help pay for her studies at Concordia University in Portland from 2008 to 2012.

Lewis earned an A grade on a history paper about the Tet Offensive — helped by Hillgaertner’s reminiscences of combat in Vietnam during that turning point in the war. 

“I am sad to have lost a man that I have considered my adopted grandfather for many many years,” she said.

Tamie Bragg-Hughes of Vancouver had similar memories. She was a staff member with the Young Marines and appreciated how Hillgaertner helped her teenage daughter prepare for an opportunity to apply for a prestigious FBI training camp. 

“Bill had many stories and definitely lived a full life,” Bragg-Hughes said. “I can’t even begin to explain how great he was. . . . he was a very big mentor, not only to his fellow Marines but to his friends, family and to so many kids at Lewis and Clark Young Marines.”

In later life, he traveled extensively, alone or with his children, visiting Maryland and Virginia, home to the Naval Academy, Quantico, the National Marine Corps Museum and FBI Academy. Personal trips included Iceland, Scotland and England. One day a couple of years ago, he decided to drive the trans-Canada highway from coast to coast. Less than a week later, he began a solo journey that lasted more than four weeks.

His final trip was a 19-day cruise through Alaskan waters to Russia and Japan. He was taken ill before the ship was to sail back to the U.S. and his condition deteriorated over the course of days. His daughter, who had accompanied him on the cruise, was at his hospital bedside in Yokohama when he died Oct. 17. 

“He was in no pain, and it was very peaceful. I was able to stay with him until the end,” she posted online.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the William Hillgaertner Scholarship, NW Regiment of the Young Marines, P.O. Box 357, La Center, WA 98629, or in his name to the National Museum of the Marine Corps usmcmuseum.com.

Editor’s Note: Patrick Webb was editor of the Camas-Washougal Post-Record from 1980 to 1986.