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William Peter "Bill" Moller was born May 18, 1920 to Aura (Brown) and William P. Moller Sr. in Santa Barbara, California. Bill, the eldest of three sons, came of age during the Great Depression, and embraced minerals at a very early age, thanks in part to his beloved Grandfather Brown. On long walks with his Grandfather there was no stone left unturned, no sky ignored, no tree passed by, no bird unnoticed. This absolute love of all things natural stayed with Bill his entire life, but it was the minerals that captivated him and held his interest. He attended Santa Barbara High School, class of 1938, and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout as a member of Troop 8. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Geology in 1942 from the University of California at Berkeley, and married Elizabeth Jane Lindsay, a member of the Cadet Nurse Corps, in 1946.
During the war Bill served in the U.S. Navy as skipper of a mine sweeper stationed in Cold Bay, Alaska. After his military service, Bill was an executive...