William "Bill" H. McGinnis

William Harold McGinnis, 83, of Lempster, NH, passed away due to a cardiac event at Valley Regional Hospital on Sunday, November 16, 2025. Bill was born in Sanford, Maine on May 30, 1942, to George P. and Laurette (Matteau) McGinnis.

He graduated from Sanford High School in 1960 and soon after enlisted in the Navy. He was stationed at Barber's Point, Oahu, Hawaii, working as an Aviation Machinist's Mate. Bill logged over 1,000 hours as a crew chief on an EC-121, operating radar barriers between Midway Island and Adak Island in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska during the Cold War. It was a 15-hour round-trip covering more than 3,000 miles.

After leaving the Navy, Bill stayed in Hawaii to work as a pharmaceutical representative for McKesson and Robbins. Bill met his future wife, Cheryl Uyeda on Christmas Eve 1965. They recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.

In 1967, McKesson and Robbins transferred Bill to the East Coast to cover Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. He served that role until 1976, when he joined Sturm-Ruger from which he retired in 2007 after 31 years of service, twenty of those years as night supervisor.

Bill was also an avid sportsman. For more than fifty years, he and Glen Kelley, along with numerous fishing buddies, spent a week in late May fishing the Allagash. Hunting was also a lifelong passion. Bill shot his last deer five days before he passed. Bill's son, Chris, was able to show his dad the 8-pointer he shot the morning of his passing.

Bill is survived by his wife, Cheryl McGinnis, of Lempster; his son, Christopher McGinnis, and wife Rachelle, of Unity; his grandson, Tyler Triquet, and wife Kristen, of Washington state; his brother, Robert McGinnis, and wife Sonia, of Sanford, Maine; and his sister, Priscilla Jowett, and husband Stanley, of Sanford, Maine. Bill was predeceased by his son, Timothy, and his daughter, April.

A spring burial will take place at the East Lempster Cemetery.

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