John William "Bill" Yanez, 84, passed away on August 17th, 2022, in Santa Maria, CA.

Bill Yanez, husband, father, grandfather, coach, teacher, and mentor, passed away peacefully in his sleep in his home surrounded by his family in the early morning hours of August 17th, 2022. Eighty-four years prior in 1938, Bill was born in Globe, a small mining town in Gila County, AZ. He was the first of six children born to Norbert Rubalcaba Yanez and Lupe Guereña Vasquez. Bill was a precocious child who early on showed academic promise.

By the time Bill graduated from Globe High School in 1956, he had developed into an effective baseball pitcher, in addition to showing budding signs of the passion that would help to define him in his adult years — coaching. Bill earned an academic and athletic scholarship to attend Northern Arizona University, where he played baseball and earned a BA in English in 1960, and a teaching credential. He earned a master's degree from NAU in 1975.

He landed his first teaching and coaching jobs at Palo Verde High School in the scorching, desert outpost of Blythe, CA in the Fall of 1960. As a 22-year-old old presiding over high school seniors, Bill said it was challenging establishing discipline with students only a few years his junior. Bill spent only four years in Blythe but left after having met the most important person in his life, the lovely Blythe-native Vivian Louise Lomeli.

Bill and Vivian were wed in December 1964 in Blythe. Their wedding reception produced the first video evidence of another of Bill’s talents, cutting a rug, which that night included The Fly, The Mashed Potato, and The Monkey. The newlyweds moved to Santa Maria where Bill had accepted a teaching and coaching position at Santa Maria High School, which he started in the Fall of ’64.

Bill was a decorated English teacher during his 40-year career, with his last honor the Venoco Crystal Apple Educator award in 1998. He examined a litany of literary classics with his students, especially his favorites: The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Romeo and Juliet. Bill resurrected the student newspaper, The Breeze, in 1984 after a 20-year absence, and founded the philanthropic student organization, The Varsity Club in 1990.

Bill coached varsity baseball from 1966 to 1978, where he had the good fortune of leading many fine young men to multiple Northern League titles and CIF berths including local legends and future big leaguers Bryn Smith, Pat Kelly, and James Steels. Bill also coached the girls’ varsity tennis team in 1978.

Bill traded in his spikes for a blazer as he moved indoors to coach varsity basketball in 1979. Bill retired from varsity basketball after leading the Saints to his first Northern League crown in 1985, an achievement made more special to Bill because his son, Tom, was the starting point guard and co-captain. He could not walk away from coaching altogether, however. He coached the freshman basketball team for another six years with his longtime assistant, former player, and friend Tony Norwood.

After retiring in 2000, Bill enjoyed keeping fit, golfing, fishing, mentoring student teachers, but most of all, enchanting his six grandchildren, who knew him as “Popo,” with his magic tricks and stories. Bill was preceded in death by his parents, and sister, Eva Yanez Morales. Bill is survived by his wife of 58 years, Vivian, daughter Andreanna Yanez-Vierra, also a colleague in the teaching profession for 33 years, her husband Ken Vierra Jr., Esq., and granddaughters Garcelle Vierra Erdie, Olivia Vierra, and Reina Vierra; son Tomás Lomeli Yanez, his wife Julia van den Heuvel, and grandsons Lucas Yanez, Matthias Yanez, Ruben Yanez; and his siblings Johnny Yanez, Norbert “David” Yanez, Connie Furrow, and Alice Duarte.

A Catholic service will be held on Friday, September 9, 2022 at St. Mary’s of the Assumption Church at 2:00 p.m. with a celebration of life immediately following. Details for the celebration will be announced at the service. For those attending the celebration, the family is inviting those with Santa Maria Saints gear to join them by wearing it proudly in Bill’s honor.

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