William M. Updike

William Manchester Updike, Jr. died February 6, 2010 in El Paso Texas of a stroke. Bill was born July 30, 1923 in Yonkers, NY to the late William M. & Dorothy King Updike and had a sister Jane Updike Kempf. When Bill was five his family moved to the Chicago area where he grew up and graduated from Evanston High School. He graduated from Carleton College in Minnesota where he met his wife, Ann Gail Greene. They were married October 25, 1947 in Genesee, Wisconsin. During his college years he served in WWII in France and Germany and participated in the Battle of the Bulge under General Patton earning military recognition. Though he was on the front lines and liberated concentration camps, Bill rarely talked of his military service, considering it his duty as a citizen to serve his country. Following college Bill joined the General Electric’s management training program, eventually transferring with GE to El Paso because of Ann’s need for a warmer and dryer climate. He worked in the nascent NASA program headed by Wernher von Braun at White Sands. Bill eventually entered banking, his profession throughout the rest of his career. He was an executive at both El Paso National Bank and State National Bank and later started his own commercial mortgage brokerage firm. Bill Updike was active in financing projects on both sides of the border and was a strong advocate for regional cooperation. In the 1960s Bill and Ann were actively involved with UTEP International Student Exchange. Bill was a director of Chamber of Commerce, Trustee of St. Clements Church School, Treasurer of El Paso Tennis Club, sponsor of many Sun Bowl parades, Senior Warden of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and on the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese, and director of the El Paso Rotary, the Downtown Development Association, and the Better Business Bureau. Many people knew Bill Updike as a tennis player which he attempted to teach all of his kids. Notwithstanding a fiercely competitive streak, he most often is remembered by friends, colleagues, and family as a gentleman. Even with all of his professional and community service his greatest love was his wife Ann and his four children. Evenings included sitting in the living room discussing everything – politics, religion, social events - nothing was exempt. A strong sense of community and service to the world was cultivated in the family. Each of the kids had long phone calls, walks or meals with their dad for more personal one-on-one discussions - hopes, dreams, problems and concerns. In fact, if you were a friend of one of the Updike kids, you also had a friend in “Mr. Updike.” Of course, Bill’s love for Ann is legendary within the family. Bill and Ann took regular walks by themselves and sometimes with kids and dogs walking up into the desert and gradually watching El Paso’s development over the years. They supported each other totally and thereby gave their best to their children and their community. Bill Updike is survived by his wife, Ann, and his four children, their spouses, six grandchildren and three great grandchildren: Katie Updike and her husband Robert Wagner of El Paso and their daughter Anna Marie, Peter Updike and his wife Stephanie of Broken Arrow, OK, Garrett and Christina Updike and daughter Lily of Alpine, Utah, Emily and Tom Robins and son Tyler of Jenks, OK, and Brian and April Updike and son Isaac of Garland, Texas, Connie McGinty and husband Sam of Lake Conroe, Texas and Meg Muhlinghause and husband Greg of Edmond, OK and daughter Janie and son Matt. A memorial service in celebration of Bill’s life will be held at White Acres, 7304 Good Samaritan Court (Belvidere and Orizaba) at 2:30 pm, Friday, February 12th. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to a charity of your choice. Services entrusted to Sunset Funeral Home-West. Please visit our online register book at www.sunsetfuneralhomes.net