William Henry Klemens, of Las Vegas, Nevada, died at home in his sleep on Sunday, September 27th, 2020. He was 78 years old.

Bill was born on January 9, 1942 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Virginia Lois Furrer and Francis J. Klemens. He was raised in Pittsburgh, PA and Western New York. And for three full months every summer during the eight years we lived in Amherst, Bill and our whole family summered in Ontario, Canada at Long Beach, on Lake Erie, where we all prided ourselves for feeling one-quarter Canadian.

After graduating from Amherst Central High School in 1960, Bill joined the U.S. Air Force, served in Viet Nam for a year, and was later stationed in Hannover Germany. After eight years in the Air Force and with the rank of Sergeant, Bill returned to the U.S. with his wife and daughters where he returned to civilian life and attended college in Illinois, graduating from the University of Illinois Champaign/Urbana in 1973 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering.

With his new diploma, Bill went to work for Brockway Glass in Scranton, PA, and afterwards re-upped back into the Air Force with the rank of Captain serving in Greensboro, NC, San Antonio, TX, and Alamogordo, NM. Later, Bill moved his family to Issaquah, WA, to be close to parents, siblings, and extended family while his younger son underwent successful cancer therapy. Afterwards, Bill did engineering work at the U.S. nuclear complex in Hanford on the Columbia River.

Bill retired to Las Vegas, NV where he joined the local German Club and motorcycling groups, raised dogs, pursued culinary interests in Asian and German cuisine, and took part in regional shooting competitions and gun collecting.

Bill is survived by his six children: four daughters, Lisel, Amy, Hedda, and Gretchen; his two sons, William, and Josef; his two grandchildren, Robert, and Isa; his brother, James Klemens, of Naperville, IL; his sisters, Elisabeth Manini, of Walnut Creek, CA, Karolyn McElwain, of Nevada City, CA, and Virginia Klemens Davidson, of Seattle, WA. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother Frank J. Klemens, Jr.

Bill’s ashes will be interred in The Southern Nevada Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City with a graveside service, flag ceremony, 21-gun salute, and grave marker on Friday, January 22nd, 2021 at 12:40 pm. All are welcome.

Friends and family are invited to visit Bill’s online memorial page, obituary, and photos through the auspices of Flintoft’s Funeral Home in Issaquah, WA. To share memories, view photos, and sign the family’s on-line guestbooks please go to www.flintofts.com where additional memorial pages and guestbooks for Bill’s deceased parents and his brother Frank Klemens are also availabl