William “Bill” Pich, age 90, passed away from natural causes on July 7, 2026. He was a
loving husband and devoted father. Bill was born as the third of four children on May
8,1936 near Slovak, AR to the late George and Katherine “Katie” Pich.
Bill grew up on his family’s farm and married his high school sweetheart, Mary Margaret
Auersberg. He graduated from De Valls Bluff High School in 1954. Shortly after getting
married, Margaret and Bill moved to Little Rock for Bill to attend college at UALR to
obtain an engineering degree but they later decided to return to Hazen to live on and
work on the family farm. Bill eventually took over the family farm and jointly farmed the
Pich Farms property between Hazen and De Valls Bluff with his brother Albert “Sonny”
for many years. Over time, Bill’s farming operations grew to include farmland in Slovak,
Center Point, and land at the Hazen airport in addition to the original Pich Farms
property. In addition to farming, Bill had a knack for welding and precision metal
working and thus he gradually acquired numerous metal lathes, drill presses, and other
precision metal working tools to enable him to make custom parts to support his farm
equipment and he began providing these services to other farmers in the area. Bill
eventually transitioned out of farming and focused on running his machine shop full time
up until the point in which he retired his machine shop business.
Away from work, Bill enjoyed spending time on the golf course, fishing, RV camping,
and making parts for other farmers at his shop. He also explored many other hobbies
including watercolor painting, metal detecting, and collecting and restoring antique cars,
among many other things. One of the most memorable hobbies was him custom
building his children an amazing go cart that was enjoyed for many years by all of his
children.
Bill was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Margaret Pich, son, William “Alan” Pich,
brother, George Gene “GG” Pich and sister, Mary Ann Willey. He is survived by two
children, Terry Hirsch (Greg) and Jon Pich (Lisa), He is also survived by his brother
Albert “Sonny” Pich, Alan’s former wife (Dawn Teer), and his 7 great grandchildren,
Bethany, Sarah and Joseph Pich, Jennah and Stephanie Hirsch, Slader, Olivia and
Emily Pich. In the years after Margaret’s passing, Bill had the blessing of meeting Paige
Frank Myrick (Memphis) who would become Bill’s 15+ year companion for the rest of his
life. Paige and her family welcomed Bill into their family and treated him with open arms
as one of their own.
Visitation will be on Saturday, July 18 th from 10:30 to 11:30 with service immediately
following at Westbrook Funeral Home Chapel in Hazen. He will be laid to rest with his
late wife, Margaret and son, Alan thereafter at the Hazen Cemetery.