William J. Dunlop III

Dunlop, William (Bill) J. III Our beloved husband, father, son, brother, and friend passed away peacefully at home on April 12, 2009. A native Spokanite, Bill was born July 1, 1953, to Bill and Georgia Dunlop. He attended Shadle Park High School and graduated from EWU in 1976 with a B.A. in Business Administration. He married Karen Kohlstaedt in 1977. Their only son, Keith, was born in 1980. In 1981 Bill and Karen founded Creative Control Services, a company that sold and supported business computer systems to small and medium businesses throughout the Inland Northwest until last October. Bill was such a patient, fair, and empathetic man. He listened well to others and put himself in the other person’s shoes. His motto was “never lie, cheat, or steal.” He believed in doing right by others. A creative problem solver, if one way didn’t work he’d figure out another way to get the job done. Bill had a terrific sense of humor and loved to share funny stories about himself and his life experiences. He was generous and sharing with his love, with gifts to others, with his friendship, and with his laughter and teasing. Most of all he was loving, treasuring his family and friends. Bill loved to travel. As a boy he traversed the Pacific Northwest following the Lewis & Clark trail with his family and to the family farm in North Dakota. With Karen and Keith he visited many Washington, Oregon, and California coasts, and, of course, Disneyland! In later years he ventured frequently to small coastal towns in Mexico with family and friends. He especially enjoyed the times spent with his friend of 40 years, Jerry Miller. But his favorite place on Earth was Priest Lake, Idaho, where he spent summers and as much time as he could from the time he started walking. It was here, on Baritoe Island, that he built his dream cabin and enjoyed spending time fishing, skiing, playing cribbage, and cocktail hour with his family. Thank goodness we had the help of his good friend, Bruce White, and many others to help build the cabin and lasting memories. Bill also loved coaching youth basketball. He often said some of the best times and memories he had were of coaching his son’s YMCA and AAU teams in the 80s and 90s. He continued as “Hoopfest coach” for his nephews, and could be found checking the courts for past players. He loved teaching the fundamentals of basketball to the kids, as well as team play and good sportsmanship. Bill is survived by many who will miss him tremendously: his wife, Karen; his son, Keith, and daughter-in-law, Lisa (Wilson); his parents, Bill and Georgia; his sisters Debe Kiritz (Frank) and Kara Moffatt (Chuck); as well as many nephews, nieces, cousins, in-laws, and dear friends. A memorial service honoring Bill’s life will he held at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, April 25, at Riplinger Funeral Home, 4305 N Division, Spokane, WA. Memorial gifts may be made to Priest Lake Emergency Medical Services, 27929 Hwy 57, Priest Lake, ID 83856 or to Hospice of Spokane, PO Box 2215, Spokane, WA 99210 in Bill’s honor. He will be greatly missed by all his family and friends. Thank you for your support, your thoughts, and your prayers during this time.