Bill McGregor departed this world on Wednesday, May 12, 2021, after a life well lived. William Roy “Bill” McGregor was born April 13, 1945, in Santa Paula, California to Harold and Ella McGregor. The third child in a citrus and cattle ranching family, Bill went on to star in track, football, and FFA for the Fillmore High School Flashes Class of 1963. He matriculated at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo where he joined the Army ROTC unit, nearly got kicked out over a few legendary practical jokes, studied Ag Business, drove school bus, married fellow student Linda Keener, and upon graduation took a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army. After training on the Nike-Hercules Missile system, he deployed to Vietnam in 1969 where he trained South Vietnamese Army soldiers in infantry tactics. Meanwhile in his absence, the McGregor family sold the Fillmore ranch and bought a larger cattle ranch near Alder, MT. Bill returned from Vietnam in 1970 to join his folks and his own young family on the California Creek Ranch. He found a passion raising cattle and helping little calves enter the world. He was happiest while helping a frail little calf get on its feet, wag its tail, and suck milk from its mother. The family grew to 3 boys, and after the retirement of his father and sale of the ranch, Bill and Linda bought a local gas station in Twin Bridges, MT, where he also joined the volunteer fire department and Rotary International. Bill was never one to turn down a burger at the Blue Anchor Cafe, or a 20 minute conversation with a friend during a busy schedule. He delivered bulk fuel all over the Ruby Valley and expanded the business to include tires and oil. By 1984, the McGregor herd moved back to California for better economic opportunity, and settled in Clarksburg where Bill took a job as a plant foreman for Delta Sugar. After his divorce, Bill later married Jill Geissert-Menezes in 1988. They lived in Fairfield, California where he took up real estate sales and another of his passions: truck driving and building houses with Habitat for Humanity. In 2001, Bill and Jill travelled to Beijing, China to adopt a baby girl and the family grew once again. In 2008 he lost Jill to pancreatic cancer and moved with his daughter, Eileen, to Leona Valley, California. Bill spent the next 10 years raising Eileen, traveling the country, coaching youth sports, driving kids to all sorts of activities, and becoming an integral part of their tight-knit community. Bill and Eileen travelled far and wide to see all sorts of National Parks, Historic Sites, big cities, generally “beautiful countryside,” and his three sons and their families. He is survived by his sons Rob (Michelle) in Golden, CO, Iain (Farrah) in Cascade, MT, and Liam (Jaime) in Clarksburg, CA, daughter Eileen, Berkeley, CA, and his 6 grandchildren, his brother Robert of Salinas, CA, his sister Jean of Incline Village, NV, and his 7 nephews and one niece.
In his hometown of Leona Valley, Bill became the neighborhood handy-man, drove truck for several companies, and did bulldozer work to help neighbors build roads, driveways, horse arenas, round pens, and firebreaks on the brushy hills of the San Gabriel Mountains. He was always generous with his time, expertise, stories, and equipment. Helping his neighbors became his latest passion. Bill McGregor will be remembered for his big smile and “firm” handshake, his big bear hugs, an occasional prank, his skill at operating trucks and bulldozers, his ability to back up any size rig, his insistence on meticulous maintenance, unnecessarily detailed record-keeping, a depression-era packrat characteristic he inherited from his mother, the unparalleled ability to “make good time” on a long car trip, his “anytime: day-or-night” response to a friend in need, his ability to deliver a calf or doctor a horse, and his generosity and kindness to his neighbors and friends. Bill was proud of his kids, loved his friends, and was generally a heck of a good guy. A local celebration of life was held at his home during his last days. Per his wishes no memorial is planned, but his ashes will be delivered to a favorite location in the mountains of Montana.