YODER – Memorial services for William A. “Bill” Long, 65, will be 11 a.m. Saturday, May 26, 2018, at the Yoder Community Building with Pastor Rick Carroll officiating.
Bill passed away May 11, 2018, at his home after a courageous battle with cancer. Cremation has taken place. In lieu of flowers memorials may be given to the Festival of Hope at Regional West Medical Center in Scottsbluff, Neb. The Colyer Funeral Home assisted the family with the cremation arrangements.
Bill was born June 4, 1952, in Greybull, the son of Calvin and Ethel (Muzzey) Long. The family moved to many places in the western states before settling in California in 1968. He graduated from John A. Rowland High School in 1970 in Rowland Heights, Calif. He attended Mt. San Antonio Junior College on a wrestling scholarship, where he was the California Community College state wrestling champion at 158 lbs. in 1971.
He married his high school sweetheart Kim Schwalbe on Aug. 26, 1972, in Hacienda Heights, Calif. Then he transferred to Idaho State University on a wrestling scholarship. He left college in 1975 to start a trucking business with his father and brothers in Hawk Springs. They lived in Hawk Springs, for seven years before Bill went back to college at Chadron State College, where he received a BS in teaching in 1983.
They moved back to California, where he taught junior high school for several years before moving to Colorado. He substitute taught there for a few years before starting his own trucking business. In 1995 he moved his family to Yoder.
Bill enjoyed horses, rodeo, hunting and drawing and painting.
Bill is survived by his wife Kim of Yoder; a daughter Lana (Jonah) Hearne of Arvada, Colo.; sons Calvin (Stephanie) Long of Rawlins and Shane Long and his fiancé Merissa Chouanard of El Dorado, Kan.; brothers Robert (Jeannie) Long of Norco, Calif., and Wilbur (Christine) Long of Elizabeth, Colo.; four grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents and a sister, Phyllis.
