William S. French; Retired Dentist

William S. French, a retired dentist, died Monday at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks following a brief illness. He was 82.

He was born Nov. 2, 1917, in Bisbee, Ariz., but grew up and went to school in Phoenix. He later attended college in the Bay Area at Pacific Union College and graduated from dental school in San Francisco at the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

On Sept. 27, 1942, in Piedmont, Calif., he married Myriel. The couple continued living in the Bay Area.

During World War II, he became an Army captain and served in the Pacific Theater as a dentist in New Guinea.

In 1949, he moved his family to Ventura County from Tehachapi. For more than 50 years, he was a dentist. He was a member and past president of the Santa Barbara-Ventura County Dental Society. He retired from his practice in 1987.

French was a 45-year member of the Kiwanis Club of Oxnard and served as a member of Oxnard’s Public Facilities Corp., which was responsible for funding River Ridge Golf Course. He was chairman of the school board for Linda Vista Junior Academy.

He enjoyed singing and was a member of the Oxnard and Ventura chapters of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America.

French served as an elder of the Oxnard Seventh-day Adventist Church. He was also a member of the conference committee of the Southern California Conference and the Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by sons Chip French of Westlake Village and Robert F. French of Truckee; daughter Mary F. Moseanko of Butte, N. D.; sisters Ruth Bowyer of Walla Walla, Wash., and Patricia Burgen of Spokane, Wash., and six grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Pierce Bros. Griffin Mortuary, Camarillo, which is handling the arrangements. A memorial service is scheduled for noon Sunday at the Camarillo Seventh-day Adventist Church.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Worthy Student Fund of Newbury Park Academy, 180 Academy Drive, Newbury Park 91320.