Vaughn 'Bill' William Vincent, 76
Vaughn “Bill” William Vincent was born May 22, 1934, to Bill and Hazel Vincent of Thompson Falls. He passed away Jan. 15, 2011, in Libby, surrounded by family and friends.
Bill was raised in a timber family in Thompson Falls and Belknap. During his junior year of high school his family moved to Yreka, Calif., where he started a long career of heavy equipment operation.
He married Julia Kendall of Oakland, Ore., in 1953 while working on the Highway 99 project. They moved back to Montana in 1958. After years of working for Bache Brothers in Libby, and a short stint as a ranch foreman of a Bloss Ranch in Planada, Calif., Bill and Julie started Vincent Logging and operated that road building, development and logging company for over 30 years.
Bill was passionate about both his work and his play and he loved to compete in both. His mastery of the art of heavy-equipment operation is legendary.
He also excelled at western Montana O-Mok-Sees and served as an early president of the Libby Saddle Club. He bred and raced thoroughbred and quarter horses, was a licensed pilot, loved to hunt, fish, ride his ATVs, play competitive pool and shoot trap.
He passed away after suffering a fatal heart attack while shooting trap at the Libby Shooting Gun Range — with his boots on, gunpowder on his hands, and enjoying family and friends.
Bill was preceded in death by his parents; his wife of 42 years, Julie; his second wife, Loretta; and one sister, Echo (Vincent) Johnson.
Bill is survived by his four boys, Will and Susie, Bruce and Patti Jo, and Scott and Hassey of Libby, and Steve and Sheryle of Trout Creek; 14 grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; sister, Patti Coe, of Plains; and sister, Robin Kendall, and her partner, Fred, of Libby; a ton of other family, and his beloved partner, Claudia Stephens.
As Bill stood at a family wedding this summer, surrounded by nearly one hundred family (many of them under three feet tall) and a couple hundred friends, he said he was awed at “what two silly kids from the 1950s had built by falling in love.”
“Here, here, to a good life well lived.”
Services will be at 2 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20, at the Libby Christian Church with the Rev. Phil Alspaw presiding A reception will follow after graveside services, at the VFW in Libby.
The family asks that donations be made to the Libby Volunteer Ambulance and St. John Hospital Foundation.