Willard Guy

Willard (Bill) Jennings Guy, Jr., 88, of Lawrence, died on the morning of April 15, 2019, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. Bill was born on April 19, 1930, in Denver, Colorado, to Willard J. Guy, Sr. and Evelyn Kathryn Guy. Bill was married to two beautiful wives: Barbara (Yates) Guy from 1954 until her death in 2002, where their focus was on their three children and grandchildren; and Patricia (Pauley) Guy, a Presbyterian pastor, from 2004 until her death in 2018. He is survived by his three children: Pam (Bob) Romanko of Coos Bay, Oregon; Cyndi Guy of Casper, Wyoming; and David (Ingelise) Guy of Truckee, California; three step children: John (Rita) Holmes of Stratham, New Hampshire; David (Irene Alarcon) Holmes of Mequon, Wisconsin; and Amy (Jeff) Hargroves of Kansas City, Missouri; eight grandchildren: Ally Romanko and Katie (Matt) Freeman, Eric, Logan and Abrienne Vierkant, and Nielsen, Maren and Andersen Guy; four step-grandchildren: Samara and Annika Holmes, and Jackson and Katie Hargroves; one great-grandson: Jaxson Vierkant; and Perry Dickey of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, his boyhood friend of over 80 years. He was preceded in death by his three siblings: Shirley, Barbara and Michael, and his legendary Cocker Spaniel Rocky.

Bill has lived in Lawrence, Kansas, for the past 29 years. He was a geologist for the Kansas Geological Survey. He was very active in the community, where he enjoyed theatre, lectures at the Bob Dole Institute, observing orangutans at the Topeka and Kansas City Zoos, learning about the Negro Baseball Leagues in Kansas City, eating Swedish pancakes at IHOP and Greek salads at the Mad Greek, visiting his friends at Saffee’s clothing store to make sure they were working hard, attending Plymouth Congregational Church, visiting National Parks, and volunteering at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. He actively researched and wrote about the Swedish National Sanitorium in Denver (which his grandparents helped found) during this time.

Bill spent 25 years in Casper, Wyoming, from 1962 to 1987, where he worked for Union Oil Company and Kirkwood Oil and Gas. He was very passionate about geology and received the Frank Morgan Award for outstanding contributions to geology in Wyoming. He was an avid skier and volunteer ski patrolman at Hogadon (now Casper Mountain) Ski Area, where he served as Head Patrolman for several years. He organized the Casper Figure Skating Club; coached youth baseball for 20 years, serving as the manager for the Casper Oilers and Drillers and several Babe Ruth baseball teams; and volunteered for the Girl Scouts and the Friends of the Library. He played handball several times a week at the YMCA for more than twenty years and was a devout fan of the Casper College Thunderbirds and Wyoming Wildcatters basketball teams.

Bill and his wife Barbara also lived for shorter times in Denver; Wichita, Kansas; Newark, Ohio; and San Diego, California.

Bill served two tours in the U.S. Navy and was a proud veteran of the Korean Conflict, where he was a radarman on the destroyer escort USS Hanna and the carrier USS Bairoko.

He graduated from the University of Colorado in Geology in 1955 and East High School in Denver, Colorado, in 1948.

The family will have a celebration of life in Colorado this summer. Memorial contributions may be made directly to Lawrence Memorial Hospital Health Foundation at www.lmhendowment.org. His family thanks Bill’s friends, former colleagues, his long-time physician Dr. Richard Sosinski, the amazing staff at Lawrence Memorial and nursing staff at Pioneer Ridge, who all showed so much kindness and compassion to him in his final months.

Condolences may be sent at rumsey-yost.com.