LA GRANDE â William âBillâ Whitaker spent the bulk of his career working toward social justice and campaigning for universal health care in Oregon and Idaho. He died in September 2020, and now the modest collection of his health care books and journals have a new home at La Grandeâs Cook Memorial Library. Whitaker began advocating for health care as a fundamental right after people around him had their lives cut short due to a lack of access to health care, according to a Health Care for All Oregon newsletter from October 2020. He received a masterâs of social work from Atlanta University and a doctorate at the Brandeis University Florence Heller School for Advanced Social Welfare in Massachusetts.