Final Salute

Bill passed away peacefully early on the morning of January 30th with his wife, Carmen Walentyna, by his bedside. After years of health battles, he was claimed by a variety of ailments originating from Agent Orange exposure during his two assignments in Vietnam as a Navy Seabee supporting the Marine Corps ground forces. He was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal with a combat “V” for his service in Vietnam.Bill was born July 15, 1946, in Little Rock, AR, to Clara Heffington Reichmuth and William E. Reichmuth, Jr. Bill’s Dad had served in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II, and as Bill himself said several times, he was born nine months, to the day after his Dad returned home a “baby boomer,” indeed.Bill’s family settled in Wichita Falls, Texas in 1949, and by then the family included Bill’s younger brother, Steve. The youngest of the three brothers, John, was born in Wichita Falls in 1950. Bill attended public school in Wichita Falls and those years highlighted traits that would define the remainder of his life. He was intelligent, consistently ranked at the top of his class, and was involved in a variety of extracurricular activities. Bill participated in Scouting, achieving the rank of Eagle Scout in 1963.Bill graduated from Wichita Falls High School in 1964 and that fall enrolled in the engineering school at Texas Tech University. He completed his bachelor’s degree in this demanding program in four years. After his graduation in May 1968, Bill was accepted into the U.S. Navy’s Officer Candidate School program. He graduated from OCS in 1969 and was assigned to the Navy’s construction unit, the Seabees. That year, he deployed for the first time to Vietnam. He returned to Port Hueneme and then was deployed to Vietnam a second time and then to Okinawa in the early 1970s. Bill served subsequent tours in Washington DC, Cairo, Egypt and then back to Port Hueneme. He resigned from the Navy in 1978. During his assignment in Washington, Bill earned his master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Maryland.Returning from his initial deployment to Vietnam, he was stationed near Santa Barbara, CA, where he met Stella Martinez. They married in 1970 and together the two traveled and lived in numerous places, settling on the Central Coast when he left the Navy. After some searching, Bill and Stella found a home to buy in Pebble Beach, CA, where they moved in 1978. Thus began their decades-long love affair with the Monterey Peninsula. They were married 36 years before Stella was killed in a tragic car accident in 2006.Bill had many interests his work as a civil engineer, his love of fast cars with his involvement in Laguna Seca and SCRAMP, and the Catholic Diocese of Monterey where he was ordained a deacon. As a professional engineer, he served as an Army civilian in the Public Works Department at Ft. Ord from 1978-1987. From 1987-2003, Bill worked for the City of Montereyrising to become the director of public works. He then was hired by the Transportation Agency for Monterey County where he served as executive director from 2003 to 2006. Bill returned to Monterey in 2006 as deputy city manager for Plans and Public Works until 2009. Bill was involved in every significant City of Monterey construction project from 1987-2009 when he retired. His projects included the Rec Trail development, the Cannery Row Garage, the Monterey Sports Center, and traffic improvements on Highway 68.Those who had the privilege to work for Bill found him to be an exceptional leader and visionary who knew how to inspire and motivate his team. Bill challenged his team to not only strive for excellence but to become their best selves. Through fostering an environment where all members of his team felt like members of one big family, which is no easy task in the workplace, Bill effortlessly bridged the fields of engineering and planning.Bill’s guidance, teaching, and professional development efforts were instrumental in the lives of countless young engineers and planners both professionally and personally; they remain forever grateful. Bill’s legacy of servant leadership will live on through the lives that he touched, who today populate the staff of almost every public agency in Monterey County.As a lifelong Porsche enthusiast, Bill loved FAST cars! As director of the local Porsche Club, he excelled at organizingPorsche events at Carmel Mission including the Porsche 50th anniversary celebration. Bill was active on the SCRAMP board in the 1980s and became board president in 1998. As president, Bill’sgoal for the organization was to raise more than $530,000 for the youth and civic groups that made everything happen at the raceway. Later, Bill served the racing community as both a member of the board and as president of the non-profit Laguna Seca Raceway Foundation. Bill spent decades in volunteerism and leadership at WeatherTechRaceway LagunaSeca. Within the Catholic Diocese of Monterey, this love of cars was also duly noted. On occasion, fellow clergymen experienced riding with Bill en route to a retreat or service. Known not only for his acts of loving service within his Church community, Bill was also nicknamed “The Streakin’” Deacon” for his love of driving Porsches. “Porsches should be driven!”Ordained a deacon on December 6, 2009, Bill was deeply interested in the theology and teachings of the Catholic Church. He found beauty in both the depth of what the Church scholars have written over the centuries, and in the everyday happenings of our contemporary world. Bill was a highly regarded preacher. The parishioners at Carmel Mission often commented on how Bill could make even the more obtuse tenets of theology clear and accessible to laypeople. He was especially good at explaining how Jesus’s teachings apply to life today.Bill purchased matching vestments in all five liturgical colors for the two priests and three deacons who serve during the celebration of the mass at Carmel Mission Bill felt that they would present a uniform, and elegant look while they served together at the altar. A clergyman shared that one of these dalmatics is still his favorite. He fondly remembers Bill each week when he puts it on. Over the course of his lifetime, Bill was giftedwith many opportunities to answer God’s call to solidarity. Through his participation with the Bitten Falge Farmworker Ministry at Carmel Mission, Bill assisted in providing food, clothing, and other necessities to farmworkercamps in the Salinas Valley area. Even once he was well advanced in years, Bill’s enthusiasm for packing truckloads of provisions and connecting with the farmworkers personally while distributing these provisions never waned.Bill is survived by his wife, Carmen Walentyna; stepchildren, Eva Valent¡n and Arden Valente; his brothers, Steven Reichmuth (Barbara) and John Reichmuth (Madeleine) and numerous extended family members.Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, April 17 at Carmel Mission Basilica. Mass will be immediately followed by a reception in Crespi Hall. There will be a private interment service for the family.In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Laguna Seca Raceway Foundation, Carmel Mission Legacy Society, the Legion of Mary, or St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

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