William Arvo Maki was born May 2, 1937, in Paonia, Colo., the first of five sons born to Arvo and Anna Valin Maki. He took pride in his Scandinavian heritage; his grandparents were from Finland and Sweden. Bill died suddenly and unexpectedly at his Pierce Revling Siding home of heart failure on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. Bill was 85 years old; he had been working in his shop three months ago.
Bill’s family lived in Knappa, Ore., where he attended school. Bill graduated with the class of 1955 from Knappa High School. He was the first Maki man in his family to finish high school, as the previous generations were all working at an early age. Bill’s father owned a welding shop. Long before Bill had a driver’s license, he was sent out with a portable welder to do repair jobs. His father’s instructions were “stay until it’s fixed because I don’t want to have to go and do it over.” His father had a uranium mining adventure in Crested Butte, Colo., which resulted in four summers of hard manual labor for Bill and his brother Jack. Bill spent four years in the U.S. National Guard, winning marksmanship awards in shooting competitions.
Following High School, Bill worked in logging, sheet metal fabrication and a welding shop. In 1962 he went to work as a mechanic for Curley Swank Logging out of Grangeville, moving to Pierce in 1965. In 1968, Bill started his own business, Maki Manufacturing Inc., with a pickup and portable welder. Bill eventually built the shop at Revling Landing. Over the years Bill was privileged to work for many loggers who encouraged him to invent and create machines to improve the logging industry. Bill’s creativity led to the inventing of the first gravity carriage in 1972. Through the years, he built the world’s first of many carriages, including hydraulic stop, mechanical slack pulling, the most successful intermediate support carriage, the world’s only cornering carriage, grapple carriage and the world’s only electric slack pulling carriage. Bill was also well known for his customizing of logging equipment to increase productivity. Bill’s mind was always working toward the next invention.
Bill’s metal artistry is visible in many places, including the Pierce Play Park Pavilion, the kiosk and Faith Lutheran Church where he had been a faithful member for many years.
Bill enjoyed hunting, fishing and guns. In the past, he was an accomplished trap shooter and piloted his own 182 Cessna airplane. One of his more useful inventions is a wood splitter made from mostly donated parts with a very early CAT RD600 engine. Most summer mornings, Bill could be seen driving to Pierce for coffee and parts in his 1931 Model A pickup, unrestored.
On Dec. 30, 1961, Bill and Nancy Estoos, daughter of Dale and Virginia Estoos, were married at Zion Lutheran Church in Astoria, Ore. They recently celebrated 60 years of faithfulness and caring. Daughter Elaine (Marvin Cook) was born in 1966, and Melinda (Aaron Davidson) in 1970. Bill enjoyed teaching his daughters woodworking, electrical, carpentry and anything that would equip them to be self-sufficient, independent women.
Bill was very proud of his grandchildren, Kirsten (Dylan Anderson), Annika Cook, Allison and Arvo Davidson and great-granddaughters, Teagan and Locklynn Anderson. They brought him much joy and happiness; he enjoyed spending time with them.
Bill’s family members include brother Jack Maki (Diane, deceased); children Tad Maki (Robbie), Traci Maki-Soffer (Henry), George Maki (deceased), Erik Maki; children Jeromy Maki (Wendy), Anna Maki-Ross (Brian), Holly Daugherty (Shawn), Ed Maki (Debbie); and Lindsay Steiner (Josh), Luke Maki (Meghan).
In-laws include Jean Estoos, Ann Peitsch (Ralph); children Joe Peitsch (Candy) Debbie (deceased), Carol Larsen (Dale), Andy Peitsch, Rachel Trio (Geoff), Tim Peitsch (Mollie), Linda Takalo (Alan deceased); children Melissa Takalo, Todd Takalo (Kara), Katrina Morris (Chuck), John Estoos (Barbara); and children Chris and Bryan Estoos. Bill has many great-nieces and great-nephews including Ole and Trig Morris who live close and are like grandsons.
A graveside service will be held at 3 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26, at Prairie Cemetery in Knappa, Ore. A memorial service in Pierce will be held in the near future. Should you wish to make a memorial donation, please consider Faith Lutheran Church, P.O. Box C. Pierce, ID 83546 or J Howard Bradbury Logging Museum 239 Woods Road, Weippe, ID 83553.
