William Huie Hess

William Huie Hess died on March 26, 2015 of natural causes at the age of 81 in College Place, Washington. He was, for many years, professor of Classics in the Department of Languages & Literature in the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, from 1968 to 1998, where he had served as Chairman 1977-1983. Before that, he taught at the University of Texas, Austin from 1962 to 1968. He graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a B.A. degree in history in 1955, M.A. in 1959, then received another M.A. degree and a Ph.D. in Classics from Princeton University in New Jersey in 1962 & 1963.

William was born in Arkadelphia, Arkansas on December 24, 1933 to Elise Huie & Jack Smith Hess, who were later divorced. In 1940, he moved with his mother to Corpus Christi, Texas where she taught elementary school. After his mother married Claude Campbell in 1942, they moved to Borger, Texas, and he attended school there and at San Marcos Baptist Academy, 1943-44 and 1945-56, a military boarding school. From 1948 to 1950, they lived in Port Arthur, Texas where he graduated from high school. After college, he taught high school in Brownwood, Texas for one year, then served in the US Army, 1956-1958, during the Korean War era.

In 1954, he married Diane Debnam. They had 2 children, Nathan, born 1958 and Margaret, born 1962. Diane died in 1970. He married Cheryl Potter Stevens in 1975 who had one daughter, Kelli, born 1968. He is survived by his wife, Cheryl; his son, Nathan; daughter, Margaret & her children, Haleigh & Atticus and by his stepdaughter & husband, Kelli & David Reeves and their children, Autumn, Stone, Forest and Canyon.

William was baptized in the Methodist Church and confirmed in the Episcopal Church in 1950. For 30 years, he was a member of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Salt Lake City, Utah and then a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Walla Walla.

Funeral arrangements and cremation will be handled by Herring Groseclose Funeral Home of Walla Walla. A memorial funeral service will be held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Thursday, April 9, 2015 at 2:00 PM with Reverend Steve Woolley officiating. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church or Blue Mountain Humane Society through the funeral home.