William Michael Killen, an electrical engineer turned lawyer turned legislator, died July 13 at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Boise. He was 85.
Bill, as he was known, was surrounded by family and long-time partner Jane Kinn Buser in the hours leading up to his death. He had suffered from cancer, lung ailments and kidney problems.
Bill was born in Olympia, Wash., on Nov. 5, 1938, the third child of David Gordon Killen and Mary Catherine Flynn Killen. The family would eventually include seven children.
His father was a professional golfer whose work took the family to several locations as Bill grew up. The Killens moved from Olympia to Eugene, Ore., in 1952; from Eugene to Portland in 1954; and from Portland to Twin Falls, Idaho, in 1958.
Bill attended St. Michael’s Elementary School in Olympia, Olympia High School, Roosevelt Junior High in Eugene and the former Eugene High School. He later graduated from Cleveland High School in Portland before entering Stanford University in the fall of 1956.
Bill was one of the top junior golfers in the Portland area during his senior year at Cleveland and while at Stanford, he played for the school’s golf team his freshman year, But he said the demands of his major in electrical engineering prevented him from continuing with the team in the following years.
Golf, however, continued to be a lifelong passion and he typically played to a 7 or 8-handicap for many years. He also attended several U.S. Opens and one British Open in person.
While at Stanford, he was a member of the Theta Chi fraternity and helped pay for his education by “hashing” in one of the school’s dining halls. He also benefitted from a Navy ROTC scholarship and after graduation and summer cruises, he joined the regular Navy as a midshipman. While in the Navy, he rose to the rank of lieutenant junior grade and was stationed at an ordinance base on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.
He married Carolyn Belfoy in 1960 in Gig Harbor, Wash., and they spent the first years of their marriage in Hawaii. While there, the couple had their son Kevin in 1961 and their daughter Tracy in 1963. A short time later, Bill left the Navy (though he remained in the Navy reserve) and the family returned to California, where he started work at the technology company Hewlett Packard. While working with H-P, he obtained a master’s degree from Stanford and continued to rise through the ranks of the company.
While at H-P, he worked on projects that included the first hand-held calculators, the on-board computer used in the Apollo moon missions and projects that led to the development of GPS.
In the early 1970s, after he and Carolyn had divorced, he decided to become a lawyer because, he said, that by practicing la, he could pick where to work and live. He settled on McCall, Idaho, because he was a fly fisherman and his father had told him that in McCall, he could enjoy fishing in a different spot every day. He was accepted to the University of Idaho School of Law, where he began studies in the fall of 1973.
After graduation in 1976, he moved to McCall with his second wife, Kathleen (Kathy) Dye, where he practiced law until 2004. During his time in McCall, he took on a variety of cases involving both criminal and civil law and, at different times, served as a prosecutor and public defender in Valley County. He was also a member of the McCall City Council and served one term as the mayor of McCall.
In addition, while in McCall, he and Kathy had two children, a daughter Alison and a son Andrew. The couple divorced in 1996.
After finishing his law career, Bill moved to Boise to relax and play golf. But before long, he decided to try politics and ran for House Seat 17 as a Democrat in the Idaho Legislature. He won his first election in the fall of 2006 and was re-elected twice before a variety of health issues led him to decide against running for a fourth term.
Bill’s political philosophy is captured in this quote from his campaign literature:
“I will strive to the best of my ability to support laws reflecting the long-term interests of the community as a whole rather than the interest of a party or those with the clout to secure special treatment.”
While a man of many accomplishments, Bill was also gentleman, a loving partner, brother, father and grandfather who liked to share his wide range of interests. As a youngster, he made home movies and learned magic tricks. Throughout his life, he read voraciously — especially science fiction — and he fed the imaginations of his children and grandchildren with books and games. His adult children pointed out that you could not leave his home without being given a new book. As an engineer, lawyer and legislator, he was tenacious and demanding but respectful and appreciative.
While his favorite sport was golf, his taste in sports was eclectic. There were favorite teams, however, especially Boise State, the San Francisco Giants and 49ers, and his much-beloved Stanford Cardinal.
Bill is survived by long-time partner Jane Kinn Buser of Boise; children Kevin Killen (Lynn) of San Francisco, Tracy Van Ligten (Glen) of Menlo Park, Calif., Alison Killen of Denver and Andrew Killen (Marianna) of Boise; siblings Rosemary Anderson of Gooding, Cathy Heileman of Meridian, Peggy Killen of Boise, John Killen of Portland and Bunnie Keen of Salt Lake City. He was preceded in death by older brother David Patrick Killen of Spokane in 2015.
He is also survived by grandchildren Flynn Killen of San Francisco, Lexi Van Ligten of Los Angeles, Connor Van Ligten of Phoenix, and Alison’s three children: Henry Killen Blair, Lucy Beth Blair and Calvin William Blair, named for his grandfather.
No funeral services are scheduled but the family is planning a celebration of life in September. Exact time and place are to be determined. Donations may be made to the Ada County Democratic Party in Bill’s name.