Bill Houghton, 94, of Warren, IN, and a retired small business owner in Huntington, IN, died Monday, Jan. 7, 2013.

Mr. Houghton was raised in Vincennes before moving with his family to Huntington in the mid-1930s. In addition to working at various jobs, he attended Huntington College and took classes at Ball State University before earning a bachelor's in business administration from Indiana University in Bloomington in 1940. After graduation, he worked at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., first in Minneapolis, MN, then Akron, OH and eventually in New York, NY. He joined in United States Army Air Corps at the outbreak of World War II and became a pilot instructor at Randolph Field in San Antonio, TX, eventually rising to the rank of major.

After the war he returned to Huntington with his family and took jobs with Kitchen Maid, Maco Corp. and Westinghouse in Fort Wayne until 1955, when he acquired his own business, Lehman Electric & Plumbing. He served as a deacon at the First Presbyterian Church.

After decades in the retail business he and his wife retired to the St. Petersburg, FL, area, where they volunteered at All Children's Hospital, until they eventually moved back to Huntington County.

He was born April 23, 1918, in Los Angeles, CA, to Howard Baker and Mary Woodburn Houghton. He married Jean Parker. His wife survives.

Additional survivors are two sons, William H. (Natasha) Houghton Jr., of Fort Wayne, and Howard P. Houghton, of Santa Fe, NM; a daughter, Janet Houghton (Ted) Bendall, of Huntington; a granddaughter Amy (Andrew) Warren, of Fort Wayne; and one great-grandchild.

No public service is planned. Preferred memorials are to the Salvation Army, 1424 E. Market St, Huntington, IN 46750.