William Arrington

William ���Bill��� McIntosh Arrington, age 85, of Orrville, died Friday May 22, 2009. A church service will be held Monday May 25, 2009 at 10: a.m. at Orrville United Methodist Church with reverends Tom Rimmer and Brooks Barkley officiating and Lawrence Brown-Service Funeral Home directing. Burial will follow at New Live Oak Cemetery. Visitation will be from 9-10 a.m. Monday May 25, 2009 at the church. Pallbearers will be Mac Higginbotham, Bill Miller, Andy Miller, Chad McHugh, Eric Elam and Landon Simmons. He was born in 1923 in Catherine, Alabama to a farming family of two brothers and five sisters. As a youngster he sold watermelons to raise money to purchase a bicycle so that he could ride across the Millers Ferry Bridge and hitch a ride to school in Camden because he wanted to graduate from an accredited high school. A World War II infantry combat veteran, Bill served as a Marine drill instructor at Marine Recruit Depot, San Diego, California, before participating in the invasion of Okinawa by the second Marine Division. When the war ended Bill was part of the Marine unit sent to Nagasaki to disarm the Japanese imperial Marines. In 1946 he entered Auburn University on the G.I Bill, the first in his family to attend college and he eared his bachelors degree in agricultural education and a masters degree in chemical agriculture. He married Betty Louise ���Blue��� Andrews of Camden, AL, whom he said he ���met on the dance floor while in college and jitterbugged for a lifetime there after.��� They were married 55 years before her death in 2004. Bill worked for Auburn University for 14 years in 4-H Clubs and as a county agent. He worked for the State of Alabama for 23 years as Administrator of the Farmers Market Authority working to establish, tomato markets, feeder pig markets, grain elevators and curb markets statewide. Arrington was a life member of the Auburn University Agriculture Alumni Association. For a time he wrote weekly column ���Retrospective and Reflection��� published by the Selma Times Journal. He is survived by a sister, Mable Hehcht of Trussville, AL three daughters, T. Madison Barcklay of Los Angeles, Olivia Miller (Steve) of Memphis, Susan Fiduccia (Paul), son-in-law, John Higginbotham of Maplesville, eight grandchildren, Mac Higgenbotham, Auburn, Ashley McHugh (Chad), Auburn, Jessica Elam (Eric), Selma, Landon Higginbotham of Maplesville, Elizabeth Miller, Andy Miller, Bill Miller, all of Memphis, TN, and Erin Johnson of Nevada, two great-grandchildren, Hannah Grace McHugh and Katherine Reid Elam. In lieu of flowers the family request donations be made to Orrville United Methodist Church or the Alzheimers Association, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Floor 17, Chicago, IL 60601-7633.