William D. Zirbel, better known as Bill or "Zip" to his friends, was born in 1934 in Lewiston, Idaho. His father developed Zirbel Truck Lines, building on the Star Dray and Transport company started by Bill's great-grandfather, and grew the business from wagons to a fleet of trucks. It would have been natural for him to continue in the family trucking business, but life doesn't work out how you might expect...

After graduating valedictorian from Lewiston Senior High, Bill attended the University of Washington on a Navy ROTC scholarship, and his life took a different turn. At the university, he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity, and he applied his gymnastic and unicycle abilities to become the UW yell king for three years. The Associated Men Students selected him as an Outstanding Senior for his scholarship and activities, but he maintained that the unparalleled highlight of his college years was meeting Marcia June Brislawn of Seattle, WA.

After graduation in 1956, he and Marcia married, honeymooning enroute to Pensacola, FL, where Bill would attend Navy flight training. Traveling was to be a defining characteristic of their rich life and beautiful love story thereafter. Zip's first aircraft carrier experience was to be assigned to VF-33, flying the F-11 in the Mediterranean. Upon completing his required service, he returned to Lewiston to work in Zirbel Truck Lines.

Bill joined the Naval Reserves and flew the AD SPAD. He missed the thrill of flying and the comradery of Navy life, so he volunteered to return to the Navy, where he was assigned as a fighter tactics instructor. As a flight instructor, Zip was infamous at happy hour for riding his unicycle off the high board and for betting that he could do backflips without spilling a drop of his martini. Asked why he endeavored to learn to do a backflip while holding a cocktail, he replied that it would be a shame to spill a good martini. Offered the opportunity to attend the Naval Postgraduate School, Bill requested a regular commission and began studies in engineering science. In 1961, he was selected for the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards AFB.

After graduation, he was the primary test pilot for the A-7E at China Lake Test Center. A shortage of pilots during the Vietnam War cut his post-graduate schooling short, and he returned to carrier aviation, flying the A-4 with VA-12 in Vietnam. He returned again to the Vietnam conflict for two more tours, flying the A-4 with VA-144 and the A-6 with VMA 224. For his Vietnam combat experiences, Zip was awarded two Distinguished Flying Crosses and nine Air Medals. His first command was VA-95, which was an A-6 squadron based at NAS Whidbey Island. He served as navigator and then the operations officer on the USS Enterprise. After completing his studies at the Naval War College, he constantly served at sea as operations officer of Carrier Air Group One in the Pacific.

His first sea command was the USS Okinawa, which was deployed to the Indian Ocean. He then served at sea as Commander Amphibious Squadron Eight in the Mediterranean and Indian Oceans. Selected to flag rank in 1982, he was Commander of Medium Attack and Electronic Warfare at Whidbey Island, WA. His last Navy assignment was as Deputy Director for C3I on the Joint Chiefs of Staff — his first assignment that did not involve flying. During this assignment in the Pentagon, Bill earned his Master's Degree in information management. After retiring from the Navy, he worked as a computer and communications consultant for BDM and SAIC in the Washington, D.C., area. In this work, he traveled extensively to Europe and Japan.

In 1999, Zip fully retired to a life full of foreign travel, sailing in the San Juans, maintaining a citrus farm near San Diego, and nurturing his forest lands on Fidalgo Island, WA. His hobbies included vintage autos, gardening, and dancing. He always had a zest for life and the gift of humor. On one of their many cruise ship adventures around the world, Bill's wife Marcia uncharacteristically refused to compete in a ship dancing contest, so he entered with his chair and came in second, noting his chair had shown too much leg, or he would have won first.

Bill is survived by his daughter Marnie, who is an oceanographer at OSU in Corvallis, OR, her wife Jessica; children Niko and Skylar; and his son Matthew, who works for the federal government in Colorado, where he lives with his wife Stacy and their daughter Dylan; and his sister, Wendy and her extended family in Spokane, WA.

At his request to be remembered for his life, there will be no funeral service. Bill will be laid to rest next to his wife at Grand View Cemetery in Anacortes, WA. To share memories of Bill, please visit www.evanschapel.com/obituary/bill-zirbel.