William Roy Chilstrom was born on September 10, 1930 in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Roy and Cora Chilstrom. He lived in Minneapolis until he enlisted in the Army in 1952. He was stationed in Germany and was assigned to the Judge Advocate Section where he served as a Court Reporter for Courts-Martial Proceedings. When his tour of duty was over in 1954 he joined his first wife Carol and daughter Linda at their new home in Long Beach, California. His son Scott was born in 1959. He worked for the Union Oil Company from 1954-1962. In 1963, he married his second wife Roberta Grosshans and they moved to Los Alamitos where they lived until his passing. He retired from the State of California, Employment Development Department-Disability Insurance Branch in 1987 where he worked for 25 years. His interest in law and court proceedings started when he was young. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Police Science from Long Beach State College in 1962. Due to his time spent in court proceedings for his job with Disability Insurance Claims, he received his Juris Doctor degree from Pacific Coast University in 1976. Bill loved sports as a participant and as a spectator. He was a gymnast in high school and an avid bowler and golfer as an adult. He was a student of sport and could recite trivial statistics without any hesitation of most sports, especially baseball. Once of his greatest joys in life was spending time with his grandchildren and supporting all of their activities. He was a well-known fixture at their sporting events.
Bill went to be with our Lord on November 17, 2017 with his beloved wife of 54 years by his side. He is survived by his wife Roberta, Daughter Linda Giel, Son Scott Chilstrom (Marie), Grandchildren Alec (Lisa) and Alissa Giel, Sam and Joe Chilstrom and Great-Granddaughters Olivia and Camilla Giel.
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