William Pleasant Allred
William P. Allred (Bill) went to heaven on March
24th after a short battle with cancer, which he faced with the same courage and dignity he lived his life. Bill was born January 18, 1944 to John P. Allred and Maria B. Ulibarri in Silver City, NM. He grew up in Glenwood, NM and was preceded in death by his parents, older brothers Clyde (Elizabeth), Richard (Sonny) and sister Darlene (Arthur) Pino.
Bill is survived by sisters Barbara (Ron) Bowen and Margaret (Jim) Logan. Bill has two children, William P. Allred, Jr. and Patricia (Tim) Hutchison with seven grandkids and five great grandchildren.
Bill attended high school in Reserve, NM and graduated from Western New Mexico with a degree in Animal Husbandry. During this time Bill was hired by the USFS as a ground firefighter in the Gila National Forest. In 1963 Bill entered the smokejumper program in Missoula, MT and stayed with it until he was drafted in 1969 into the U.S Army. After serving at Ft. Sill, OK he returned to smoke jumping in 1973. As a smokejumper foreman, load master, and spotter, Bill led jumpers throughout the western US, making hundreds of jumps from various aircraft into wildland fires. He knew no fear. Bill decided to move to the front of the plane in 1982. Bill was hired as a pilot in Albuquerque and trained as a transport and lead plane pilot leading large fire retardant slurry bombers across the country. Bill was also a MAFFS (Military Airborne Firefighting System) instructor for the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserves. This included a deployment to Indonesia to fight wild fires there. Bill had over 8000 flight hours in single and multi-engine aircraft including a type rating in the DC-3. Bill attained the ranks of Master Parachute rigger, Airline Transport Pilot, and Flight instructor by the FAA. He retired from the USFS in 1999.
Bill married Kathleen O’Brien in 1992 and was happily married to his best friend for 29 years.
Bill dedicated his life to helping others succeed and was highly respected by all he met for his knowledge, ability, passion, and professionalism. He loved to RV in and around the Gila, fish, tooling around on ATVs, walking his beloved basset hounds, and tinkering around his back yard. With friends all over the US Bill always had a pot of beans, red chili and tortillas ready to go whenever someone stopped by.
A friends and family gathering will be held this summer near Reserve, NM. It is a guarantee he will go out in the style he lived his life--- confident, unassuming, with a smile on your face for having known the man. For condolences and the gathering contact Kathy at allredbk@ aol.com. The family is overwhelmed by the love and respect shown by so many. He will truly be missed.