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GAUSS -- Col. William H. Gauss, USAF (Ret.), a resident of Boise, ID, died on January 5, 2009 at the age of 95 at Willow Park. His wife, Lorraine, preceded him in death in March 2005; and his son, Curtis, died in April 2008. He is survived by four children, Brad (Marcia) Gauss of Boise, Sandra Gauss of Boise, JoAnn (Ed) O'Keeffe of Florida and Sharon (Michael) Mills of California, 16 grandchildren, 31 great-grandchildren, and seven great-great-grandchildren. Bill was born in St. Louis, Missouri on October 29, 1913. He was raised in Moscow, Idaho where he obtained a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Idaho. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant, Infantry in 1936. He assisted in setting up aerial gunnery training schools, and was also an instructor whose most famous pupil was Clark Gable. He was called to active duty in 1943 and assigned to the Air Force. He flew in combat out of England in 1943 as a tail gunner in a B-17 bomber. In 1944, he went to India as the command gunnery officer of the B-29 Bomber Command. After the war, the Air Force sent him to the University of Texas where he obtained a Masters Degree in Business Administration. He also graduated from the USAF Institute of Technology and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. His most challenging duty was Director of Management Analysis, Headquarters, Air Forces of Europe, Wiesbaden Germany, 1954-57. He served as Director of Material Accounting, Headquarters, USAF, at the Pentagon for four years, then as Base Commander of Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and finally as Comptroller, AF Special Weapons Center also at Kirtland AFB. Col. Gauss received numerous medals and awards including the Legion of Merit and the Commendation ribbon with three Oak Leaf Clusters. After retirement from the Air Force in 1967, he served as comptroller for the University of New Mexico Medical Center Hospital for two years, and then as Assistant Director for Systems Management Analysis for the Albuquerque Public School System for 10 years. Bill loved to teach and he taught mathematics and finance at night school while stationed in Germany, and economics while in Albuquerque. He was always active in his church wherever he was stationed and taught Sunday school in three locations. He was an avid golfer who "shot his age at 77" and played his last game in the summer of his 91st year. He will also be lovingly remembered as a bird watcher, tomato farmer, commissary shopper, caregiver, repairman, great joke teller, and a real gentleman. Bill was buried with full military honors at the Santa Fe National Cemetery with his beloved wife Lorraine on January 9, 2009.
        Published on: Sun January 25, 2009