Lester Wayna Pixler

November 1, 1918 - September 15, 2016

Lester W. Pixler was born November 1, 1918 in Pearson, Iowa to Guy and Agnes Barkley Pixler. The Pixlers lived on the farm that his grandfather had homesteaded in 1870. Being the youngest of seven children and living through the Great Depression had a life-long impact on him, giving him the motivation to stand up for himself and to always take care of his family. His parents introduced him to a great love of God. As a teenager, Les and his brother Howard produced a prototype for a wind-charger for use in rural America before there was a power grid to serve the local farmers. After serving in the U.S. Army during WWII, he studied electrical engineering at University of Southern California. While attending USC, Les met his future wife, Beatrice Thomas. Les and Bea were married on July 16, 1948 at Wilshire Methodist Church in Los Angeles. They honeymooned in Santa Barbara. When Les finished his electrical engineering degree, he joined Westinghouse Corp. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In Pittsburgh at the end of the war housing was scarce, especially for newly employed graduates. The more they looked around, the more they liked the idea of heading back to California. Westinghouse moved Les around the mid-east, using him to set up training programs for other engineers. Westinghouse finally transferred them to their preference - California, where they settled in the San Francisco Bay Area. Thomas Wayne Pixler was born in 1954, and Susan Jean Pixler joined the family in 1956. The Pixler family moved to Piedmont, California, where the children grew up. Les and Bea joined the Piedmont Community Church. During this time, Les became a nuclear engineer at Mare Island Naval Station, working on the first nuclear submarines and training young engineers how to operate them. After raising their family and 20 years of service to their church in Piedmont, Les and Bea retired to Santa Barbara and shortly thereafter bought their lovely home in Montecito and joined the Montecito Presbyterian Church. In retirement, Les and Bea discovered the travel bug, visiting Florida and New England and later Korea, where Les attended as a Rotary President, and Japan and China. They were staying in a western hotel on Tienamen Square, and witnessed the tanks roll in to quell the student protestors in the early morning hours from the roof of their hotel. Later they traveled to the Caribbean, Russia and Berlin, and took a riverboat cruise through Europe. In 2005, Les and Bea moved to the Samarkand Retirement Community, where they were fortunate to make many friends and finally relax a little. In March, 2009, Bea preceded Lester in death, after 61 years of marriage. The Samarkand community and spiritual leaders were of great comfort to Les after Bea's passing, and his love of family and friends and the Lord helped him to carry on. Les was also preceded in death by his parents and six siblings. This fall Les had a brief battle with para-influenza, but his lungs could not handle it, and he passed on Thursday, September 15, 2016 at Cottage Hospital. He is survived by his children, Tom and Susan, who would like to thank the friends and staff who cared, supported, and showed such great compassion to him over his final years and final days. Les and his gentle sense of humor will be greatly missed. A small graveside service will be held at Goleta Cemetery at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 21, 2016. Arrangements are entrusted to Welch-Ryce-Haider Funeral Chapels. The service will be followed by a memorial gathering at the chapel at Samarkand Retirement Community at 3:30 p.m. Please feel free to attend one or both of the services.