Bill Moeller, the longtime Chronicle columnist who for years introduced himself to readers as "a former entertainer, mayor, bookstore owner, city council member, paratrooper and pilot living in Centralia," died Monday at Providence Centralia Hospital. He was 96.
A service will be announced at a later date.
Moeller led an interesting life by any measure, presiding over hundreds of weddings, working as a Mark Twain impersonator and becoming involved in an endless list of community improvement projects over the years. He was also a veteran of the Korean War.
For years, he shared stories and anecdotes from his life in the pages of The Chronicle. In all, Moeller’s byline appeared more than 700 times in The Chronicle through his frequent column, “I Was Just Thinking…”
Moeller wrote his final column last year.
Moeller was a prolific writer and a staunch community advocate. In January, he was recognized as The Chronicle's 2024 Person of the Year.
“He was the kind of guy that you couldn’t believe did everything he did in one lifetime,” said former Chronicle Editor Brian Mittge, who still writes a column for the newspaper. “He was such a genial fellow. He loved talking to people.”
Born in Tacoma on May 5, 1928, Moeller had one younger brother. In childhood, he lived through the Great Depression and World War II, and he spent summers in high school working in shipyards and dreaming of attending the University of Washington to study acting.
After his high school graduation in 1946, Moeller joined the U.S. Army, and worked for an armed forces radio station in Japan.
“I thought, ‘Well, it’s not so bad, this life. Because you hardly do anything,’” Moeller recalled in an article after he was named Person of the Year. “So I extended for another year, and, at the end of that year, the next war started.”
A paratrooper, Moeller joined combat in the Korean War shortly after it began.
“I’m proud of my eventual five years of service and, although I never made it to drama school, Mark Twain and I managed to find many good years ‘on the boards,’” Moeller wrote in 2021, referring to later years when he would become a Mark Twain reenactor.
Upon returning to the states, Moeller enrolled in a two-year program to become a radio technician in Tacoma. He soon married and had two children.
In the 1960s, Moeller joined KELA in Centralia as an evening DJ. He worked in the role for about 11 years before a promotion and later started the local morning talk show “Let’s Talk About It.”
In 1980, Moeller was elected Centralia’s mayor with a narrow four-vote margin. He served in city government for 16 years and also served on the board of Twin Transit.
While in office, Moeller guided the city through the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, when ash covered Centralia and its water sources.
“If that second eruption of Mount St. Helens proved anything, it pointed out that Centralia’s water system was only barely meeting our needs and that future growth would put a larger strain on it,” Moeller wrote in a 40th anniversary column on the eruption.
While serving as Centralia’s mayor, Moeller also helped establish the Seminary Hill Natural Area, which features miles of trails and picturesque views of the Skookumchuck River Valley.
As he progressed in age, Moeller remained a frequent visitor of the natural area and was a mainstay at an annual work party to improve the area.
“I’m always going to think of him when I see those tall trees that grow forever,” Mittge said.
Ahead of his 95th birthday last May, Moeller penned a column that reflected on his seven decades living in Lewis County. One of the highlights was the discovery just before he turned 70 years old that his partial deafness did not prevent him from obtaining a pilot’s license, it only prohibited military flying.
Moeller, who had a lifelong dream of becoming a pilot, soon obtained a license.
“Life was just getting started for him when the rest of us were thinking about retirement,” Mittge said. “It’s pretty cool.”
Another lifelong dream, to become a famous actor was, “only partially achieved,” Moeller wrote in the column after he took up acting with the Evergreen Playhouse and directed “half a dozen” performances,
At the suggestion of a fellow performer, Moeller began to perform as American writer and humorist Mark Twain. The role would take him across the western United States to perform.
“That ended with the final performance 14 years ago, which resulted in — I’ve been told — over $7,000 toward the building of the proposed (and now beautifully completed) Vernetta Smith Timberland Chehalis Library,” Moeller wrote.
Shortly after his 95th birthday, Moeller penned his final column last summer, which closed just one chapter of a life committed to his community.
The wide-ranging column frequently covered topics including his marriages, local perspectives on politics, first dates, vacations and gardening, among other topics.
“I’m pretty open,” Moeller said after being named The Chronicle’s Person of the Year. “I don’t hide anything. Even when I went through three wives.”
Moeller’s column was a longtime source of pride, and he continued to submit a weekly edition even after management under former management of The Chronicle told Moeller that budget restraints meant he would only be paid two times a month.
“It’s the columnist. It has to be that,” Moeller told Chronicle reporter Isabel Vander Stoep of his legacy. “I’ve certainly made more friends that way. And a few enemies besides, but mostly friends.”
