William "Bill" Erman Christian, Jr. died peacefully on October 20, 2026, in Radford, Virginia, at age 86, with his wife Marilyn by his side.

Bill was born January 4, 1940, in Logan, West Virginia, to Helen and Ernie Christian, and grew up in Huntington, West Virginia. As a boy he was hit by a car and walked away without a scratch. The doctor who checked him over made a lasting impression and Bill decided right then that he wanted to be a doctor.

Getting there took grit. He paid his own way through college and medical school with a string of jobs: catching dynamite off a conveyor belt at an open-pit rock mine, selling clothes, washing 18-wheelers and assisting a diesel mechanic. He was proud of every one of those jobs and said they taught him how to treat people.

At Marshall University, Bill was helping to build the Sigma Phi Epsilon Homecoming float when he spotted a cute brunette and told his fraternity brothers, “I’m going to marry her.” Not long after, he saw her at an off-campus bar, on a date with another man. When her date stepped away, Bill swooped in and asked Marilyn out. They married in 1962, beginning a love story that would last more than six decades.

Soon after, Bill graduated from Marshall with a B.S. and a B.A., and he and Marilyn packed everything into their Volkswagen Beetle and headed to Morgantown. Bill earned his M.D. at West Virginia University in 1966 and completed his residency in anesthesia there as well. For Bill, family was a priority. As a resident, on the days he worked 24-hour shifts, Marilyn would bring the children to the hospital so he could feed them and play with them. It was an unusual request for a father in the late 1960s, but entirely natural for Bill.

After his residency, Bill served as a Lieutenant Commander and Chief of Anesthesia at the Naval Air Station outside Memphis, Tennessee. He never tired of telling how it took three haircuts before the Navy considered him regulation.

In 1972, Bill and Marilyn moved to Radford, Virginia, where he became the first anesthesiologist at Radford Community Hospital. He grew the practice to five anesthesiologists and earned a reputation as a gifted, caring physician who made patients feel safe. He actively recruited other doctors, physical therapists and nurses to join Radford Community Hospital. Roslyn Sayers and Susie Beamer, his office managers for more than 20 years, called him the “best boss ever.” He served on the board of the Radford Hospital Foundation and retired from practicing in 2000.

Anesthesia suited him perfectly as he thrived in high pressure situations and with making split-second decisions. Outside the operating room, he laughed easily and often, and he was an incorrigible practical joker. On one family vacation, he and Colin dropped a giant water balloon off a balcony, aiming for Marilyn and Tamara. They missed and shattered the car's windshield instead. It was the last day of the trip, the banks were closed, and ATMs didn't exist yet, so the family pulled pennies out of the couch cushions to pay for a new windshield.

Bill believed in treating people with kindness and dignity, a lesson he carried from his earliest jobs through his years as a physician and into every corner of his life. He was extraordinarily generous, often giving quietly and without anyone knowing. For many years, he and Marilyn partnered with their dear friend, the late Suzanne Glass, to give an anonymous Christmas to a local family in need. Suzanne was the Supervisor of Welfare and Family Services in Radford, and each year she found a family that was working hard and struggling and got a list of what they needed. Then the whole Christian family went shopping together for strangers they would never meet, filling every item on that list. They handed everything to Suzanne so the gifts stayed anonymous. Only in a small town, and only with a friend like Suzanne, who knew exactly who needed it most.

He and Marilyn shared a passion for art and established the Dr. W.E. and Marilyn Christian Scholarship for the Visual Arts at Radford University's College of Visual and Performing Arts. He supported future caregivers, too, through the William E. "Bill" Christian, Jr., M.D. Nursing Scholarship at New River Community College. He was a voracious reader who built a library of more than 4,000 books. He and Marilyn traveled the world with a wide circle of friends, and those same friends were regulars at the legendary parties the Christians threw.

Bill never outgrew the urge to play. There was always a sports car in the driveway, a deck of cards or a board game on the table, and a ping pong paddle or pool cue within reach. Family game nights and friendly rivalries were his idea of a great evening. Animals adored him, and the feeling was mutual. Cats slept on him for hours, and he wouldn't move them. When Tamara was young, he gave her a kitten and named her TLCK, short for "Tamara Lynn Christian's Kitten." TLCK learned to open the screen door herself, and when the family locked it, she simply climbed it. Bill replaced screen door after screen door and never once held it against her.

When grandchildren came along, they practically had to be pried out of his arms. He just wanted to hold them. As they grew, he loved listening to their stories, playing games with them and giving them his undivided attention. One Christmas, his granddaughter gave him a book about the history of North Carolina. He read the entire book that day, simply because he wanted her to know how much he appreciated her gift.

Bill lived a big life, but it was the little things that revealed the size of his heart. A stroke in 2018 changed the course of his life, bringing challenges that tested his resilience and the independence he had always treasured. Through it all, Marilyn was by his side, caring for him with extraordinary devotion and helping him live as fully as possible. After more than six decades together, he said she still looked exactly the same to him, and he loved hearing her laugh.

Bill is survived by his wife, Marilyn; his children, Tamara and Colin (Kelli); his grandchildren, Cade and Cole; his step-grandchildren, Ariana and Aidan; his sister, Carolyn Finegar; his sisters-in-law, Carolyn Finn and Deborah Jacobs; several nieces and nephews; his faithful caregiver, Gena Hunter; and Roslyn and Cecil Sayers, who helped in every way they could.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Helen and Ernie Christian, and by many dear friends from those travels and parties, quite a few of them also named Bill. He missed them terribly, and no doubt the party has resumed.

A service will be held at Grace Episcopal Church in Radford on Thursday, November 5, at noon. Inurnment will follow at 3 p.m. at the Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemetery in Dublin. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, an organization whose work Bill supported, at t2t.org.

The Christian family is in the care of Mullins Funeral Home & Crematory in Radford, Virginia. www.mullinsfuneralhome.com