William (Bill) Dale Siders

William Dale “Bill” Siders, age 81, passed away on Saturday, 18 November 2023, at the Montrose Regional Hospital’s ICU.  Bill was born on December 3, 1941, at the home of his maternal grandparents, Charles, and Blanche Fels, in Prospect Township, Highland County, Ohio, to his young parents, Charles Albert and Esther (Long/Fels) Siders.  Still living are his sister, Shirley Jean Crownover, brother, David Pershing Siders, and many nieces and nephews, most of whom live in Ohio.  Those preceding his death were both sets of his grandparents and his parents.  His paternal grandparents were Joseph Albert and Lillie Lee (Spurgeon) Siders.

After graduating from Marshall High School, Marshall, Highland County, Ohio, in the spring of 1959, he entered college at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, fall of 1959.  Bill married Nancy Carolyn Cluff in Marshall Township, Highland County, Ohio, on 16 June 1961. His progress in education was quite an achievement in his family of farmers, being the first to graduate from high school and then to enter college. He completed a BS in mathematics education in 1963 and an MA in educational foundations in 1965.  After seven years as a high school mathematics teacher, he was accepted for OSU’s doctoral program in math ed.  Due to job shortages at an ABD (all but dissertation) level, he accepted an assistant math professor position in 1976 at Findlay College (now the University of Findlay in northern Ohio).  With a growing family and based on his work with the advancing computer capabilities at the college, he moved from teaching to administration as the director of the computer center.  Bill felt providing college education degrees for their three children was imperative.  In 1981, he moved to Kenyon College as Director of Administrative Computing, where all three children received their liberal arts degrees.  1989 Bill transferred to the New Mexico Military Institute (NMMI) in Roswell, New Mexico, as Director of Information Services.  While as a computing administrator, he was president of a local ACM chapter and founding member of a local Digital User’s Group.   Bill hosted four national computer conferences, been selected as a founding member of the national POISE User’s Group board of directors, a founding member of the New Mexico CHECS computer group, president of CHECS, and a member of its executive board as well as a member of the SCT PowerCampus advisory board.

Bill and his family lived and worked in Columbus, Ohio, and the surrounding suburbs for the first fifteen years.  During this time, three children were born in the Riverside Methodist Hospital.  They moved to Findlay in northwestern Ohio following grad school for six years. Then Gambier/Mount Vernon, Ohio, for eight years.  With the children grown and located around the country, Bill and Nancy moved to Roswell, New Mexico in 1989, where they worked together in the Computer/Information Services department for eighteen years at NMMI before retiring in January 2007.

After retirement and experiencing prostate cancer, Bill enjoyed over a decade of traveling the United States in RVs with Nancy and their beloved traveling cat, Snowy.  Bill became a member and president of the Friends of Bitter Lake National Refuge, a docent and board of trustees member for Roswell Museum and Art Center (RMAC; currently Roswell Museum), and a founding member of the United Field Ornithologists of Roswell (UFOR).  While at RMAC, Bill was awarded the New Mexico Association of Museums (NMAM) Volunteer of the Year 2018. The plaque states: “Bill Siders not only understands scientific concepts and the museum’s collection, he knows of the invaluable experience gained learning, from others, knowing when to lead and when to listen, and never taking a learning opportunity for granted.”

In September of 2021, recurrent health conditions necessitated a move from Roswell after 32 years to Montrose to be close to their oldest daughter, Melissa Sue Siders, and her husband, David T. Sinton.  Their second daughter, Colleen Rebecca, and her husband, Christopher K. Eaton, are retired and live in Littleton, Colorado.  The youngest and only son is Dr. Craig William Siders, physicist and senior scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and his wife, Dr. Jennifer L. (Walker) Siders, Asst. Prof. of Physics at Las Positas College, of Livermore, California. Bill and Nancy have five grandchildren: Dr. Rebecca Christine Eaton of Cincinnati, Ohio; Kacie Marie Sinton, KKCO’s Director of Digital Media of Grand Junction, Colorado; Charles Augustus Siders, pursuing his graduate work in physics and astronomy at UNM in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Declan Alexander Eaton, finishing his BS in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Jake Keaton Siders, studying film scoring at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

After moving to Montrose, he enjoyed providing Ignite Montrose and Ignite Ridgway presentations and being a Black Canyon Audubon Society member.

No services are planned at this time.  A memorial may be celebrated in the future in the state of Ohio. Crippin Funeral Home of Montrose is assisting the family. (970)249-2121