William J. Gores was born on May 31, 1932 at the home farm in New City Township, Towner County, North Dakota, close to the Canadian border. He is the son of Louis and Stella (Walsh) Gores. Bill was one of twelve Gores siblings, all but one of whom precede him in death. His youngest brother, Larry, continues to farm in Towner County. Bill is survived by his wife of 56 years, Margaret, and his son Steven (wife Cara) and Thomas; also, four grandsons.Bill graduated from Bisbee High School in 1950. In 1952, Bill was inducted into the Army and underwent Chemical Corps basic training at Fort McClellan, Alabama. He also took Ammunition Supply training at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland. He was initially assigned to a training company at Fort McClellan where he taught recruits how to use gas masks, rifle grenade launchers, flame throwers, smoke generators, and bazookas. Then, in Dec 1952, Bill was shipped out to Japan, where he took about a month of CBR (Chemical, Bacteriological, and Radiological) Defense training in Japan before being assigned to the 619th ammunition supply company in Korea near the Demilitarized Zone. He spent most of his time in Korea loading, unloading, and driving trucks full of ammunition, often artillery shells. In Dec 1953, he was shipped back to the U.S. and was separated from active duty at Camp Stoneman, CA. After his military service, Bill used his G. I. benefits to enroll in the engineering program at North Dakota State University in Fargo. During the summers, he worked on a construction crew. In May 1957, Bill graduated from NDSU with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. For several years he worked in California before returning to North Dakota in June 1961 to marry Margaret Kukowski. The two had met in college, and were married in her hometown, Beach, North Dakota. They moved to California where Bill took an engineering job at Douglas Aircraft Company in Los Angeles. Bill and Margaret's two sons, Steven and Thomas were born there. He purchased a four-unit apartment complex in Newport Beach and made that the family home. Bill worked as a part of the vast engineering team that developed the Saturn rocket that propelled the early Apollo missions to space and the moon. In 1964, due to a slowdown in the aerospace industry, Bill moved his young family to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he worked for Allis Chalmers and then its successor, Siemens Allis, for 20 years. From a young age Bill loved flying, so while he was starting out in California he saved to buy a Luscombe Silvaire airplane in partnership with two of his colleagues and he later bought out their shares in the plane to become the sole owner. He used this plane which was just big enough to carry himself, Margaret, and their young sons from California to North Dakota to live temporarily with their respective families while he looked for a new job in 1964. When they finally settled in Milwaukee he spent many weekends happily maintaining his plane at their small suburban airport and then upgraded to a larger Cessna 180. On several occasions, he used this plane to take his family on vacation. One trip to Yellowstone National Park was made especially memorable when the tailwheel broke and the vacation had to be delayed until repair parts could be delivered.Bill and Margaret loved to tour the American West, visiting relatives and camping in the national parks. When they didn't fly, they would take the boys on two-week drives, travelling from Milwaukee through the Plains, over the Rockies and out to California. Among the national parks they visited were Glacier, Yosemite, Teddy Roosevelt, Yellowstone, the Rocky Mountains, and the Grand Canyon. Bill refitted his 1966 Ford pickup with a cap on the back and hand-made wooden side cabinets that held sleeping bags. When the lids of the cabinets were removed they could be placed crosswise to create a sleeping loft above the pickup bed. He added an intercom so that Steve and Tom could speak to him and Margaret as they traversed the West. During one vacation, Bill's adventurous spirit led him to insist on driving the pickup to the top of Pike's Peak during a torrential downpour. He eventually bowed to pressure to stop and then turn around on the muddy, no-guard-rail road, at least partly because he was afraid the pickup engine would fail to survive the grade and altitude.Bill finished his career at Savanna Army Depot in Illinois, retiring in February of 1995. In his retirement, he continued his love of aviation by purchasing and restoring antique airplanes, specializing in the Aeroncas of the 1930s. He built his own airport hangar and filled it with a fully restored 1941 Aeronca Chief, a modern Piper Warrior, and bits and pieces of other Aeroncas, in various states of repair. Though he enjoyed Milwaukee and cheered on the Green Bay Packers, he always regarded himself as a Westerner. Both he and Margaret were avid readers of their hometown newspapers. Bill also collected, read, and re-read every story and novel ever written by the North Dakota author Louis L'Amour, who wrote of cowboy days.Bill's remains will be cremated. A memorial service will be held at a later date in his hometown of Bisbee, North Dakota.