William F. Kimes

1907 - 1998

William F. Kimes was an educator, author, book collector, and community college admnistrator. He was a graduate of the University of the Pacific, in Stockton, California. He served as assistant superintendent of business for Orange Coast Community College during its first 20 years. Bill and his wife, Mayme, were longtime residents of Newport Beach, and retired in Mariposa and Santa Rosa. The Kimes had two daughters, a son, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Bill Kimes carried out a lifelong passion for the life and work of John Muir. He and his wife Mayme held the largest collection of Muir memorabilia outside an institution. He served as consultant for the PBS production, "John Muir, Earth Planet Universe" and he and his wife are co-authors of John Muir: A Reading Bibliography the foremost reference work for researchers and collectors of John Muir. He and Mayme traveled extensively on the Muir trail and they burro-packed and knapsacked for more than a thousand miles in the High Sierra. They also explored his birthplace in Scotland, his boyhood haunts in Wisconsin and they retraced his trek up the Amazon River and Muir's adventures in Alaska.

Bill was a speaker on John Muir in many venues. For example, in 1980, he gave a presentation, "Honors Come to John Muir in the Land of His Birth," published in The World of John Muir (Stockton: University of the Pacific, 1981).

Bill Kimes Bookplate

Symbols of Bill Kimes

BOOK - The World of Truth and Authority

BIRD - Peace and Limitless Space

TREE - Growth and the Wonders of Life and Nature

SCHOOL - Knowledge and Understanding and the sum of Earth that Determines our Existence

SUN - Light of the World

Designed by Southern California artist Phil Dike in 1963, close friend, and daughter Joan's art instructor at Claremont College, Pomona, California. The school house shown is still standing near Summerlake, Oregon.