William
Foster Blackinton was born May 25, 1922, in Acequia,
Idaho, to Ruby Clark and Emmett Reynolds Blackinton.
Acequia is a little town located a few miles from Rupert
in the lower southwest portion of Idaho. His parents
had moved up from Ogden, Utah, to try their hand at
farming and to work on the construction of the Minidoka
Dam. After the dam was completed, the family moved back
to Ogden when he was one year old.
Bill
had four sisters and was the second to the last child
born. He was named after his two grandfathers: William
Henry Clark and Foster Emmett Blackinton. His sisters
were Eva Bea, born December 17, 1917 and died December
29, 1917 in Acequia; Helen Jean (Joseph James Clausse)
born April 13, 1919 in Acequia; Betty Lou (George Stanley
Fridberg) born August 20, 1920 in Acequia; and Marion,
born April 26, 1928 in Ogden, Utah.
Bill
skipped either the 2nd or 3rd grade in school so be
graduated from Weber County High School with his diploma
in Ogden a year early in 1939.
He
worked at Blackinton and Son Canning Company in Ogden
which was founded by his father in 1940. He worked there
until the joined the military in 1942.
Bill
married Phyllis Rickerson, his high school sweetheart,
on October 8, 1940 at the age of 18 years in Devil's
Slide, Morgan, Utah. There were no children of this
marriage.
Bill
was like a modern-day Tom Sawyer, very easy going and
well liked by everyone. When he was growing up and there
were chores for him to do, he could always talk his
friends into doing his work while he supervised the
operation. His littlest sister, Marion, remembered Bill
taking her to school on her very first day of kindergarten.
She was so scared and wouldn't leave her big brother,
so Bill ended up having his kid sister follow him around
that first day. Also when she was around, he wouldn't
let any of his friends swear. Bill had a motorcycle
which he loved to ride.
Bill
enlisted in the Army Air Corps in late 1942.
His
father drove him to San Francisco to see him off. He
was the last to see him and he had a "feeling"
that would be the last time he would see him.
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