Obituaries & Tributes

William ‘Bill’ Christoferson: Sept. 16, 1955-July 1, 2024

William “Bill” Christoferson, a life-long Eugene/Creswell, Oregon resident passed away on July 11, 2024 of dementia. He was a “I can do that” guy; a journeyman carpenter and welder, a hunter, good athlete, husband, uncle, brother, son, and friend.

Christoferson

Born in Rochester, Minnesota his parents and two older sisters moved to Eugene when he was just a toddler. Then they added a little brother and sister to the family. Bill went through the public school system, graduating from South Eugene High in 1973. 

His growing up years on College Hill were filled with activities and friends. Some of his hobbies were bow and arrows, hunting, and riding his small motorcycle in the back alley over jumps. He raised homing pigeons, had dogs, caught lizards and snakes, water and snow skied (very well), bicycled, scuba dove, backpacked in the Oregon wildernesses, and he enjoyed making things in his many junior and high school shop classes. 

Bill was mechanical. He truly enjoyed his Outward-Bound solo adventure. After graduation, he joined his very good friends in Bend, skied, listened to some of the best music of our times and worked for Mt. Bachelor. These were good times and made great memories.

Bill returned to the Eugene area and with his dad owned a small farm on the east side of Creswell. He later purchased his own place on the west side where he lived for 30 years or more and where he eventually died. The property is beautiful but the home on it was small. 

He married Cindy Layng, a local gal from the region and they lived a remote and happy life. Cindy was his angel as she cared for him through his last years. 

Bill was a beekeeper, had many hives and harvested and spun his own honey. He’d give it out as Christmas presents to relatives and friends until a bear ripped the hives apart and he gave up bee keeping. 

He also once shot a mountain lion in his front yard as it was a threat to their mules, Hank and Elvis. He put a live rattlesnake he caught in his shop in a pipe in the freezer and called it his “snakesicle.” 

After retiring from carpentry at age 55 (he was at one point the head of his union), he built a new house by himself with periodic assistance from some of his union friends. His union community was very tight and he appreciated those associations. 

He was a perfectionist and resourceful; salvaging excess project site materials for many of his home building materials. He was relentless and driven to complete the house. 

Unfortunately, his dementia caught him before he could complete the finishing touches. Those of us who visited him can still hear him, with his dementia, shouting at his barking dog, “shut up Shorty!” It was actually funny.

Bill is predeceased by his mother, Mary Jane Battin, his father, Dr. Kent William Christoferson. He is survived by his wife, Cindy, sisters Marney Malik, Jane Oest and Julia Christoferson, his brother Carl, seven nieces and a host of supportive relatives of Cindy’s. Time and place of the memorial service will be announced later.

DEATH NOTICES

Michelle Ruth Fuller, 38, of Eugene, Oregon, died July 6, 2024. 

Hart J. Williams, 68, of Eugene, died July 6, 2024.

Robert Randall Shaffer, 84, of Cottage Grove, Oregon, died July 8, 2024. 

Paul Ervin Hansen, 70, of Creswell, Oregon, died June 7, 2024. 

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