Bill Green, a U.S. Navy veteran who chaired a Congressional Cup in the late 1990s and served as Long Beach Yacht Club commodore in 2003, has died. He was 85.
Green died from a heart attack in Buena Park late last week, nearly two months after his wife, Sharyn Kay Green, died Aug. 8 from Parkinson’s disease.
William Wellington Green III was born Dec. 19, 1936, in Boyd, Kentucky.
At 17, he joined the Navy. Green first served in the Pacific islands, where he learned to sail and scuba dive. His next assignment was in San Diego aboard the USS Wasp, a recommissioned attack carrier.
After leaving the Navy, Green graduated from the University of Kentucky, in 1962, and was hired by North American Aviation to work on the Apollo program as a research physicist. From there, he moved to Hughes Aircraft.
While at Hughes, Green studied at UCLA, earning a master of business administration degree.
Over the course of his lifetime, Green owned a pool company, sold real estate in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and ran a property management company.
In 1992, he and his wife joined the Long Beach Yacht Club. The couple enjoyed taking their Offshore 48, “The Pleiades,” on cruises with fellow members.
In 1999, Green was chairman of the 35th Congressional Cup, the so-called “granddaddy” of match racing, which the Long Beach Yacht Club puts on annually.
While commodore, Green spearheaded a study to figure out how much money the yacht club would need to create a capital reserve fund.
He was able to fund the $300,000 fund, and he used that money to complete a variety of capital projects — all within the budget. Sharyn Green’s architectural and interior design talents enhanced the club’s interior spaces and she helped to refurbish the club’s dining room.
“He did so much for the club,” Staff Commodore Mike Elias said in a phone interview. “He approved the contract for the club elevator, started the kitchen remodel project and created the wardroom. He was a supportive good guy who never said no when it came to helping the club to improve.”
Green, who died on Saturday, Oct. 1, in survived by his brother and sister-in-law, Mike and Judy Green of Scott Depot, West Virginia; his sons and daughters-in-law, Tom and Stacey Green of Brea, and Bill and Michele Green of Gig Harbor, Washington; and step-daughters and son-in-law, Gina Michel Tovar and Arthur Falbush of New York City, and Maria Kristine Tovar of San Francisco. Bill and Sharyn Green had nine grandchildren and one great-grandson.
The couple will be laid to rest in the National Memorial Cemetery in Hawaii. Services are pending.
Editor’s note: Jo Murray is the historian for the Long Beach Yacht Club.
Source: Orange County Register
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