William “Bill” Spencer Bagge Jr.
1944 ~ 2016
William “Bill” Spencer Bagge Jr, age 72 of Prosser, passed away peacefully on July 22, 2016 following a lengthy illness at his home in Prosser. A fifth generation Californian, Bill was born on January 8, 1944 in San Francisco, California to William Spencer Sr. and Arville Olivia (Boulding) Bagge. Bill and Joy Ann Andersen were married on June 26, 1991 and the couple made their home in Prosser, Washington.
Bill is survived by his wife of twenty-five years, Joy Ann (Andersen); his daughter, Morgan (Joe) Pallet of Portland, Oregon; his sons, Spencer Bagge of Spokane, Washington and Sawyer (Amanda) Bagge of Prosser, Washington; sister, Sisi (Bert) Damner of Sausalito, California; nephews, Bart Damner and Nic Damner; and niece, Lexi Mork-Ulnes. Bill was preceded in death by his parents and grandparents.
Bill attended Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco and later took general course work at College of Marin and wine making courses at University of California Davis. For much of Bill’s early life, he enjoyed working on yachts and sailing out of Belvedere to many ports around the world, participating in multiple ocean races. He worked for many years in winemaking at Winsor Vineyards (Sonoma Vineyards) in Healdsburg, CA before moving to the Yakima Valley to work as winemaker and manager of Coventry Vale Winery. Retiring from winemaking in 1991, Bill worked in car sales for Tom Denchel Ford and Hall Chevrolet until last fall when he began full retirement.
Bill greatly valued his children, watching sports with them, delighting in guiding his two sons in employment around the farm, and further developing their character and colorful vocabularies. He regularly connected with his sister Sisi, to share life events and very much enjoyed the big brother role. He enjoyed reading, keeping up on the political scene and disagreeing with it. Sailing and fishing he found relaxing, as well as raising beef cattle.
In keeping with his wishes there will be no service. Memorials in his memory may be made to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation or the Blue Mountain Raptor Rescue. You may leave an online message of condolence for the family at www.Prosserfuneralhome.com