Wilbur Morrison Bolton

Wilbur Morrison Bolton, a long-time parishioner at St. Hedwig Parish in Los Alamitos, California, died on March 9, 2018 at age 84.

Born in May 1933, “Bill” was the oldest of eight children. His maternal grandmother had converted to Catholicism before her death in 1941. Bill, his parents and five then-born sisters were conditionally baptized by Fr. Francis Schaefers on December 6, 1947 at St. Thomas More church in Portland. His mother had been an Episcopalian and his father a Methodist.

Bill graduated from St. Mary’s Cathedral in Portland in 1946 and Central Catholic in 1950. As the only non-catholic in the 8th grade he sang in the boys’ choir. (The other 8th grade boys could all serve Mass.)

He graduated from Oregon State in 1954 with a degree in Mathematics and after two years in the Navy pursued a career as an actuary for nine years at Standard Insurance (then in Portland) then for 32 years at Transamerica Life Companies in Los Angeles. Bill Bolton has been a Fellow of the Society of Actuary since 1962.

Bill married Mary Jo Hardwick at St. Thomas More in Portland in 1955. They had five children of whom four survive. Their oldest son, ordained to the priesthood in 1987, will preside at Bill’s funeral on Wednesday, March 14th at St. Hedwig Parish. Bill is survived by Mary Jo, sons Fr. Bill Bolton and Robert Bolton, daughters Mary Parker and Laura Speed, 12 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren. Daughter Margaret Bolton Lum predeceased him in 2011.

While in Portland, Bill was a parishioner at Holy Family in Eastmoreland. After his family moved to California in 1967, they attended St. Hedwig Parish in Los Alamitos, where Bill was a Cantor at Sunday Mass for several years.

Bill and his wife Mary Jo are among the founders of Precious Life Shelter in Los Alamitos.

In Lieu of Flowers
Donations can be made Precious Life Shelter
P.O. Box 414
Los Alamitos, CA 90720-0414

Luyben Dilday Mortuary (562) 425-6401