Résumé

Employee, Kaiser Company, Vancouver, WA, 06/30/1942. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For Washington, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 1, accessed 04/07/2026.)

Airman, US Army Air Forces, 02/09/1943-10/15/1945. Ackley served as a turret gunner and engineer on a B-17 during the war. His plane was shot down over Italy. Ackley wrote an account of his World War II service in the book, Twenty-Seven and a Half Missions in the Fifteenth Air Force (New York: Vantage Press, 1996).

Principal, Douglas W. Ackley, Architect, Seattle, WA, 1955-1956.

Architect, Alaska Architectural and Engineering Company, 1956- , Fairbanks, AK. At the Alaska Architectural and Engineering Company he worked with Lee S. Linck, who established the firm.

Architect, Olson and Sands, Architects, 1968- . Olson and Sands began in Juneau as Harold B. Foss, Architect, in 1935.

Partner, Sands and Ackley, Architects.

Principal, Ackley and Associates, Architects

Partner, Ackley and Jensen, Architects. This firm later became Jensen, Yorba and Lott, Incorporated.

Ackley retired in 1985, moving to Scottsdale, AZ, first and later to Medford, OR.

Professional Activities

Douglas W. Ackley was a Registered Architect in the State of WA c. 1963; his Certificate Number was TL 611.

College

Graduate, Vancouver High School, Vancouver, WA, 1941. While at Vancouver High School, Ackley majored in Mathematics. (See Vancouver High School The Alki Yearbook, 1941, p. 22-23.)

Coursework, University of Washington, Seattle (UW), Seattle, WA, c. 1947. At the UW, he belonged to the Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity. (See University of Washington Tyee Yearbook, 1947, p. 394.)

B.S., Architectural Engineering, Washington State College (WSC), Pullman, WA, 1951.

Relocation

His family relocated from CA to WA State c. 1920. Douglas was born to Blaine and Myrtle Ackley on 04/21/1923 in Vancouver, WA.

Between at least 1930 and 09/1947, at the time of his marriage, he resided with his parents at 2110 East 8th Street in Vancouver. WA. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1930; Census Place: Vancouver, Clark, Washington; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 0052; FHL microfilm: 2342219, accessed 04/06/2026, Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For Washington, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 1, accessed 04/07/2026 and Ancestry.com, Source Citation Oregon State Archives; Oregon State Archives; Oregon, County Marriage Records, 1849-1967, accessed 04/07/2026.)

The architect died in Medford, OR, on 01/03/2014.

Parents

His father Blaine Ackley worked as a construction engineer for a Vancouver, WA, electric company in 1930.

Spouse

He married Shirley Jean Dickover on 09/06/1947 in Portland, OR. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Oregon State Archives; Oregon State Archives; Oregon, County Marriage Records, 1849-1967, accessed 04/07/2026.)

Biographical Notes

According to his World War II draft registration card of 06/30/1942, Ackley was Caucasian with brown eyes, blonde hair and a light complexion. He stood 5-feet, 8-and-1/2-inches tall and weighed 160 pounds at age 19. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For Washington, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 1, accessed 04/07/2026.)