On Saturday, December 31, 2022, William John “Bill” LaBar, loving husband, father, grandfather & great grandfather passed away surrounded by family at the age of 90 after a long illness. Born William John LaPaglia in Ferdonia, NY on July 29, 1932, Bill grew up in Buffalo, NY, graduating high school from Bennett High School in 1952. He joined the US Air Force (1952-1956) and was stationed at Travis AFB/Security. He met Helen Crew of Vacaville in the spring of 1954 and they were married June 5, 1955. They moved to NY but soon returned to CA.
Bill began his 30-year career with California Department of Corrections at CMF in 1958. He promoted to Sergeant and transferred to San Quentin in 1966 where he remained until 1971 when he transferred back to CMF. Bill promoted to Lieutenant in 1978 where he remained until he retired in 1988. In Bill’s honor, the road in front of CMF was renamed to LaBar Lane. Bill was also instrumental in the building of Keating Baseball Park in Vacaville in the 1960’s with help of donations from the community and the City of Vacaville.
Bill had a passion for sports, especially baseball/softball, trains of all sizes, his Italian heritage, and camping/traveling in their motorhome. In 1957, he started flag football for the youth of Vacaville. He played softball in the City of Vacaville for many years, as well as senior softball. His love for trains, specifically miniatures, prompted him to build his own model train set which took up over half of his garage. He loved to build smaller scale sets to enter into the Dixon May Fair each year. Bill helped start the Solano Chapter of UNICO National (an Italian heritage non-profit service organization) in 1992 and later became District Governor. Bill loved to take his family camping, especially at Nevada Beach in South Lake Tahoe, where he would always enjoy swimming the lake.
He was preceded in death by his mother, Matilda, his father John, and his brother Joseph. He is survived by his wife Helen of 67 years, daughter Mindy (Jay) Plunkett, son Todd (Daniela) LaBar, grandchildren, Ryan, Rusty, Lauren, Amanda, and Michael and numerous great grandchildren.
The service for Bill LaBar will be Wednesday, January 11, 2023 at 10:00, at McCune Garden Chapel, 212 Main Street, Vacaville, CA 95688. Graveside will follow at Vacaville-Elmira Cemetery.
