Obituary of William "Bill" Ensign

William Weir Ensign was born January 30, 1910 and passed away peacefully on April 27, 2014. Complications of diabetes contributed to his death. He was 104 years old. Bill was born on the family dairy farm just outside Cameron, Clinton County, Missouri to Ernest Levi Ensign and Nellie Zimmerman Ensign. Bill liked to tell of growing up on the farm, making homemade ice cream in the summer, doing the never-ending chores, and the power equipment of the day, including steam tractors. He attended one-room country schools in his early years and graduated from Cameron High School with the class of 1928. When asked if he participated in sports in high school, he said that any time one of the kids asked about playing sports, his dad would tell them that if they had that much extra time he could always buy a few more cows to milk. Graduating in 1928 meant that Bill went straight from high school into trying to find a job during the Great Depression. Money was scarce and jobs were tight. Bill left the family farm and bounced from job to job. He worked as a farm laborer, at the local Chevy dealership, at a salvage yard, and told us of unloading train cars of sugar beets with a scoop shovel until his hands bled. He made his way to Colorado in the early thirties to work at a dairy in Littleton. A family member that owned that dairy managed the Graymont Hotel in Hugo and she talked Bill into moving to Hugo to work as her dishwasher, maintenance man and bouncer. Bill worked in Hugo a few years and was briefly married and divorced during that time. He left Hugo in 1939 and returned home to Missouri. There, in the spring of 1941, Bill received greetings from his Uncle Sam. He reported for duty at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, on March 8, 1941. That fall, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the U.S. was thrust into war. The first theatre of operation was to rout the battle-seasoned Germans from North Africa. Bill’s First Armored Division, or “Old Ironsides” as they were called, was one of the first units sent into battle. Bill had a lot of “war stories” to tell but one involved an evening setting up camp in the dark on the desert and feasting on some delicious local figs. The next morning they took a second look and found the figs were full of worms! As stated before Bill had lots of stories about the war, but they were all realistic and he never talked about heroism. He talked honestly about the loss and carnage of war, especially the early years when our troops were green and poorly equipped. Bill was well-respected as a mechanic in the armored division working on tanks, trucks and Jeeps, etc., and rose to the rank of Master Sergeant. As strange as it sounds to us now, one of his proudest achievements was rigging up a truck with a water tank on it so troops could take a hot shower. But in that situation, imagine how good a hot shower felt to the front-line soldier! He had stories of being threatened by General Patton (who he had absolutely no use for) and working on General Omar Bradley’s jeep under the Arc de Triumph in Paris. Bill stayed in active duty through the end of the European Theatre, starting in North Africa, fighting northward through Anzio, Italy and finally into France. His battles and campaigns include: Tunisia, Naples-Foggia, Rome-Arno, North Apennines, and the Po Valley. In recognition of Bill’s service he was awarded Five Bronze Stars for his campaigns and battles, the Good Conduct Medal, the American Defense Service ribbon, the European-African-Middle Eastern Theatre Campaign ribbon and four Oversees Bars. After his discharge from the Army on September 3rd of 1945, Bill went back to Missouri and met up with Pauline Rempfer Keesaman, a high school sweetheart that he had corresponded with during the war. In true whirlwind fashion, they decided they should get married, so they headed for Colorado and managed to stop and get married on Sept. 24th in Goodland, Kansas. They brought all their belongings to Hugo, including Pauline’s son, Don. Pauline had been widowed when Don was one year old in 1936. Bill adopted Don as his son in 1946. Bill and Pauline started out in a little rental but ended up buying a small house that they added on to several times as the family grew. Pauline and Bill had two more sons; William W. “Bill”, Jr. in 1947, and James V. “Jim” in 1950. That same house has seen the family grow to include grandkids, great-grandkids, and recently great-great-grandsons. The marriage that began with a hurried trip from Missouri lasted almost 54 years when Pauline passed. When Bill returned to Hugo, he immediately started working for Vern Cobb at Cobb Motor Company, a local Chrysler/Plymouth dealership. After Vern’s death, Bill bought the business and acquired an AMC dealership when Chrysler pulled out. Bill worked in the same building for 54 years, and was widely known as a top-notch mechanic. He took great pride in fixing the problem rather that replacing it with a new part. Many customers from Karval, Genoa, Kit Carson, Arriba, and other towns drove to get their cars and trucks worked on by Bill at Ensign Motors Bill and Pauline, like so many of that generation, worked hard to make Hugo a good place to live and raise a family. Bill spent several evenings helping build the new facility for Joe Will Post #6612 and Bill was a charter member. He also helped as a volunteer to build the original Hugo hospital. When the local funeral director left and the town no longer had a local ambulance service, Bill gave them a used station wagon to use until funds could be raised to buy a new one. He generously stored that ambulance and the next one, providing free maintenance service for them, until the department built their own building. Bill also provided new cars to Hugo Schools at no cost for their driver’s education program. He also provided storage for them before the program was ended by the school. Bill and Pauline tried to get to every athletic contest their sons were in, and missed very few. If one attended a Hugo game from the 1960’s through the 90’s you would see Bill and Pauline and Rose and Kenneth Mellott in the stands whether home or away. For their dedication, the foursome was honored by the school and given lifetime athletic passes. Bill had a passion for old cars, photography, old engines and pretty garden flowers, but his greatest loves were his grandkids. Nothing brought a smile to his face like having a house full of children. Bill was preceded in death by his parents (Ernest and Nell), his wife (Pauline), one son and his wife (Don & Leah), three brothers (Sidney, Don, & Gene), and two sisters (Florence & Lois). He is survived by his sons Bill Ensign, Jr. (Ricky) of Limon, Colorado and Jim Ensign (Cheri) of Louisville, Colorado. Surviving Grandchildren include Gary (Terina) Ensign of Hugo, Pat Ensign White (Perry) of Hugo, Sharon Ensign Webb (Rod) of Simla, Brad (Micki) Ensign of Goodland, KS., Angie Ensign Moore (Shane) of Levant, KS., Stephanie Ensign Neiberger of Henderson, CO., Seth Ensign (Shelley) of Colorado Springs, CO., and Levi Ensign, of Louisville, CO. Also surviving are 15 Great Grandchildren: Austin Pottorff, Brian White (Lora), Brent White (Samantha), Lindsey Webb Bruntz, Mandy Webb, Michael Webb, Dawson Ensign, Emmi Ensign, Kyan Ensign, Dane Moore, Jack Neiberger, Kate Neiberger, William J. Ensign, Jakob Ensign, and Sylvie Ensign. The 4 surviving Great Great Grandchildren are Joe, Trevor, and Zachary White and Chase Murphey.