Bill Compton:

I attended Old Dominion University for several years, where I met the wonderful woman I married in 1963. My wife of 45 years died of a heart attack in May 2009. I have two sons and a granddaughter, all of whom live in the Seattle area.

I served in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1969. I spent the last two years on Oahu, Hawaii.

I was employed by Pacific Ordinance and Electronics in Norfolk, Virginia from 1970 to 1978 as a field engineer, where I upgraded systems aboard many Navy vessels along the East Coast.

I moved to Minnesota in 1978 to work for Honeywell Defense Systems Division -- later Alliant Techsystems -- installing and maintaining various teest equipment systems around the world and providing manufacturing support for related weapons systems.

I was transferred to Mukilteo, Washington in 1995. The operation was subsequently sold to Hughes Aircraft, which was taken over by Raytheon in 2000. I retired in 2007.