William Lampas

William (Bill) John Lampas, 91, of Battle Creek, passed away peacefully on December 6, 2013.  He was born in Battle Creek, Michigan on October 22, 1922 to Greek immigrants John Constantine (Lampathakis) and Eugenia (Berles) Lampas and attended Battle Creek Schools prior to enlisting in the Marine Corps in 1942.  After serving honorably in both the Alaskan and Southern Pacific Theatres during World War II, he was discharged in March 1946 and married Marjorie Jean Murphy on December 14 of that year.  Bill worked at Eaton Corporation prior to being hired by Post Cereals in 1949 where he worked in various production jobs, including the last fourteen years as an Instrument Repairman and retired on permanent disability in 1977.  While employed at Post, he continuously attended night school and took extension educational courses to earn a business certificate from Augubright Business School and an associate’s degree in pneumatic controls from the University of Nebraska.  A voracious reader who spent thousands of hours at Willard Library, every available minute of his life was devoted to his sheer joy of learning.  A long-time member of the Battle Creek Camera Club, in his retirement years he was a professional photographer who was among the first to create an internet site for selling his high-quality nature photographs online.  Besides photography, Bill loved classical music, reading history and politics, working on major home improvement projects, watching Detroit Tiger baseball, traveling extensively both in the U.S. and overseas and before his serious industrial accident in 1967 was an avid water skier.  He combined two of his foremost hobbies by taking eleven trips to the African wilderness to photograph wildlife in addition to making many photographic excursions to Europe.  Bill was preceded in death by Marjorie, wife of forty-six years; daughter Nancy Marlatt (Ron), stepson Charles Adams and two sisters, Koula and Helen, whom both died in childhood.  He is survived by his faithful brother-in-law and cherished sister, Ralph and Virginia Moody of Battle Creek; much-loved sons John (Susan), James (Maureen) both of Battle Creek and Jeffery of Steamboat Springs CO; dear nieces Patricia (Van) Lazaroff of Paris TX and Melissa Moody of Kalamazoo; five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. A Memorial service will be held at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, December 13, 2012 at the Richard A. Henry Funeral Home with visitation from 12:00 p.m. until service time. Interment will follow at Fort Custer National Cemetery. The family requests that memorial contributions be made to the Marine Corps “Toys for Tots” program. www.henryfuneralhome.org

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