William Eden Meals II, 80, of Tallahassee, Florida, died November 1, 2016 at his home. A native of Long Beach, California, he grew up in Pasadena, California. He attended South Pasadena High School and graduated from there in 1954. He spent his early adulthood years working summers on ranches in Nevada.

He earned a degree in Animal Husbandry from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California and a degree in Business Administration from Menlo Business College in Menlo Park. He served in the US Navy Reserve and was deployed in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis and on numerous West-Pac Cruises on the AKA Washburn and the Reserve Destroyer USS Evans. He retired from the Navy as a Lt Commander.

In 1970 Bill was Assistant Personnel Director for the Department of Agriculture for the State of Florida until his retirement in 1996. Upon retirement he built a vacation home and spent summers in Elko, Nevada and served as a long-time member and treasurer for the Friends of NRA and was an excellent marksman.

Bill is survived by his wife 'Totsy' Cavanaugh Meals; daughter Kimberly Meals and son-in-law Marcus Strickland of Tallahassee; son Charles Meals of Lake Havasu City, Arizona; two grandchildren, Cole Meals and Sydney Nicole Meals; and a very beloved brother-in-law, Carl Cavanaugh and his wife Donna.

Dignity Memorial, November 10, 2016

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Veteran Story

United States Navy 
09-60 to 03-64 Active Duty
04-64 to 04-83 Ready Reserve
04 LCDR

Amphibious Warfare School
CNABATRA Commendation
Public Affairs at NATTU 1 year
Div. Officer USS WASHBURN (aka 108) For balance of active duty time.

Stationed:  NAS Pensacola and San Diego. Reserve time was CO of a Small Surface Division in Santa Maria, CA. Later Weapons Officer with Selected Reserve Crew aboard USS Evans (DE 1023) out of Seattle, WA. Established and was CO of Naval Reserve Officers School in Tallahassee and XO of Personnel Mobilization Unit also in Tallahassee.

Military service is a great experience. You can be in positions when your responsibility for men and machine is far greater than most people will ever be subjected to in a civilian environment. Our ship went with many others thru the Panama Canal during the Cuban Missile Crisis. None of us ever realized how close we came to a nuclear conflict with the Russians. We had a total news blackout. We steamed around for days, the Marines with us were getting restless. Then one day we were directed into GITMO, fueled up and headed for home. Somehow we received a medal for that.

Sea stories I will just keep to my self and a few old Sailors. Y'all wouldn't believe them but some just couldn't be made up by a good fictional writer. Some funny, some sad and some bizzzzzzzzzzare