Hugh Elliott Obituary

Hugh Elliott III
December 29, 1939 - July 11, 2025
Hugh Wilson Elliott III, passed away peacefully in Flagstaff Arizona on July 11, 2025. He was 85 years old.
Wilson, as he was known, was born in Dallas TX, on December 27,1939, the son of Hugh and Emma Lucille (nee Swink) Elliott. After graduation from Hillcrest High school, he moved with his family to California. where he graduated from Pasadena City College and, then, Occidental College with a degree in English literature. After college, he received his commission in the US Navy Reserve. He took pride in his time in the Navy, which included serving as navigator of the USS Procyon. He returned to school after active duty, and in 1967, he received an MBA from Santa Clara University, and began a career with Pacific Telephone. He held several management positions in accounting, and then moved to training, becoming an instructor on the subject of electronic switching systems, and a student of adult learning theory. One of his last assignments was the development and delivery of a course to train new instructors. This course helped many people overcome their fear of public speaking, and received glowing reviews from students.
In 1990, at age 50, he took early retirement, and was able to pursue more fully his many and varied interests. Wilson was an avid reader: fiction, non-fiction, history, biography, whatever. Among his favorite authors were: Samuel Clemens, Anthony Trollope, EB White, John McPhee and Larry McMurtry., Wilson also loved vehicles and vessels: he was a car guy, a motorcycle guy, a boat guy, and an RV guy: from the Willys Jeep on which he learned to drive at age 12 (a picture of which still sits on his desk), to his '64 Mustang, '70 TR6, 2000 F-150 and collectible '34 Alvis and '60 Lincoln convertible; from his Honda CB 500 to his Harley-Davidson Baja, from canoes and trawlers to (thanks to the US Navy) swift boats and aircraft carriers, he treasured his experiences with them all..
He loved to travel: cruises, road trips, tours. He was a frequent visitor to the UK and Ireland, honoring his Scots and Scots-Irish heritage. Twice he drove from Northern California to Alaska on his own. Shortly after his retirement, he went to Ireland, visiting every county in Northern Ireland and the Republic. Visits with grad school friends in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay were favorites, along with a picture-taking safari in Kenya. His driving trips took him, at least once, to every state in the union.
Most notably, Wilson was a great story-teller on a limitless number of topics: growing up in Texas, his pet pig Salami, the 1954 boy scout jamboree in which he participated, "sea stories" of his time in the navy, such as climbing Mt Fuji, cross-country skiing in Tahoe Meadow, watching humpback whales and sea turtles from his rented house on the Big Island, Victor Mature's Cadillac golf cart in the Rancho Santa Fe 4th of July parade, the barge traffic he could see from his deck in Anacortes, a newly-discovered recipe or food prep technique. There was literally no topic on which he was not willing to regale listeners.
Above all, Wilson was a warm and loving son, grandson, brother, husband, father, granddad, uncle and friend. Everyone who encountered him came away with at least one memorable Wilson story. He was greatly loved, and he will be greatly missed.
Donations in his memory may be made to Wounded Warrior Project or Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Condolences may be shared with the family at norvelowensmortuary.com