William James Traynor 1922-2015

Commander William Traynor (Ret) was born in Norfolk, Virginia to Commander & Mrs. Francis P. Traynor.

In 1940 he was appointed to the Naval Academy from Plattsburgh, NY. He graduated with the class of 1945 in June 1944. His first ship (he was a plank owner) was the destroyer USS DeHaven DD-727 operating with the Third & Fifth Fleets in the Pacific during WWII. He took part in the battles of Leyte, Luzon, Iwo Jima & Okinawa.

In November 1945 he married Marion Hatton in Old Saint Mary's Church, Chinatown, San Francisco. His ship operated in the Far East until the spring of 1947 when he was ordered to submarine school.

He served on the submarine Pomodon, which experimented with high speed submerged maneuvers & performed a capacity mine plant. He was then assigned as Aide to the Commandant, Ninth Naval District, headquartered at Great Lakes, IL. Next he became Executive Officer of the submarine Atule based in New London, CT. From 1955 until 1957 he was Tenth Company Officer in the Executive Department, US Naval Academy. This tour included a Midshipman's Cruise to Denmark & Guantanamo Bay.

In 1957 Bill assumed command of the submarine Redfish, which included filming the movie "Run Silent, Run Deep," operations in Puget Sound, & deployment to the Western Pacific.

He then served on the staff of COMSUBPAC scheduling the training of submarine reservists & administering submarine cruises for midshipmen. In 1962 he was assigned as Executive Officer of the submarine tender Sperry.

In 1963 Bill became Submarine Scheduler for CINCLANTFLT in Norfolk. In 1966 he was awarded the MS degree in Personnel Administration from George Washington University, then retired from active duty. In addition to the Submarine Qualification pin, Bill wore eight service ribbons & the Expert Pistol Medal. He served as President of the LA (& later San Diego) Chapters of the Naval Academy Alumni Association.

After retirement from the Navy, Bill became Faculty Personnel Officer at California State University, Northridge. In 1972 he served as Director of Personnel after being awarded the Doctor of Education degree from Brigham Young University. In 1973 he became an Associate Professor in the School of Business (Management) at Cal State Long Beach, where he taught for 18 years. He was promoted to Professor & in 1980 took a sabbatical leave to serve for 6 months at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji. This was the first of 4 tours at USP, supported by grants from USP, Fulbright, and the Asia Foundation. He made trips for instruction & research to Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Western Samoa, Tuvalu, & the Cook Islands. He & Marion made trips to New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong & Malaysia. In 1991 He retired from Long Beach as Professor Emeritus. His vocational guidance manual "Opportunities in Human Resource Management Careers" had 5 editions.

In 1994 Bill & Marion moved to Rancho Bernardo, just missing the Northridge earthquake. With his son Jim, Bill sailed his boat "Blue Ayes" from Marina del Rey to San Diego, where he actively sailed as a member & officer of the Southwestern Yacht Club. He was active in lawn bowling & was President of the Oaks North Lawn Bowling Club 1995-1996 & 2000-2001. He served on the ON Community Center Board of Directors 1998-2002.

Bill is survived by his loving wife, Marion, daughter Kathryn, sons James & Stephen, Steve's wife Cindy, 4 grandchildren, 9 great-grandchildren, and 1 great-great-grandchild.