William Henke

William David Henke

30 January 1933 - 26 December, 2022

William “Bill” Henke, Colonel, U.S. Army, Retired, age 89, passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, on December 26, 2022, at home in Fall Creek, Wisconsin.

Bill was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to William H. and Magdelena “Lee” (Loos) Henke at the height of the depression. Economic insecurity was a constant in Bill’s early life and a significant motivating factor. He began a lifetime of entrepreneurship at age five, when he launched his first enterprise by cutting the neighbor’s tulips and selling them at the entrance to the cemetery. As he got older, he supplemented the family income by mowing lawns, raising chinchillas, and chauffeuring the local doctor to his evening house calls.

Bill graduated from Western Hills High School in 1951. During his freshman year at Wilmington College, his father suffered a debilitating heart attack, positioning him as the sole family provider. Determined to support his mom as well as pay his tuition, he took on jobs cleaning furnaces at an ice cream plant, on an automotive assembly line, and as a guard at a juvenile detention center. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1955 and earned a Masters in Education from the University of Southern California in 1970.

Bill was very proud to have served his country both in active military duty and in civilian service for over 30 years. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1955 and served his first tour of duty on Okinawa. After returning stateside in 1957, he joined the U.S. Army Reserve.  He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Reserve in 1959 while teaching at the Munich American High School in Germany. While working in a civilian position in Korea in 1966, he was recalled to active duty and served as headquarters company commander and group adjutant.  In 1972, he graduated from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He continued his military service, alternating between active duty and Army Reserve - until his retirement as a colonel in 1989.

In his civilian career, Bill worked primarily for the U.S. Army in various capacities and locations in Germany and in Korea, at Fort Snelling in Minnesota and Fort McCoy in Wisconsin. He also taught English in Gouverneur, New York; Osseo, Wisconsin, and Munich, Germany; as well as in his own home, where he was a strict grammarian.  He was delighted to have been able to reach his life goal to be retired longer than he had worked.

During his tour on Okinawa, Bill seized the chance to courier military documents to exotic locales like Pakistan, Vietnam, and Thailand; thus igniting a lifelong passion for international travel. A couple years later, he set out to travel in Europe just for the summer, but instead, serendipity led him to a job teaching at the same school as Miss Patricia Preston, a Wisconsin-born farm girl following her own adventuresome spirit. It didn’t take Bill long to recognize a good thing when he saw it. He proposed just two months after they met, and they were married the following summer, in July 1960. The two of them worked hard to master the German language, which, coupled with their enthusiasm for the culture, allowed them to make many lifelong German friends. They enjoyed numerous adventures together, including traveling to over 60 countries and all seven continents, passing the love of travel and language on to their children and grandchildren. Pat and Bill eventually spent over half of their careers overseas.

Just hours after their marriage, Bill surprised Pat by announcing that he’d always wanted to have his own farm. Not long afterward, they purchased one in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin. They lived there between and after their many moves around the country and overseas, steadily stewarding the land, planting thousands of trees, and restoring wetlands and prairies. Bill, along with dedicated helpers, built many trails and footbridges on the property. He loved to share the farm with friends and family (especially his grandchildren), and visited it regularly, appreciating its beauty right up until the last months of his life. Pat and Bill have donated over half of the land to Beaver Creek Reserve, to be held in perpetuity as a nature reserve.

Bill, along with Pat, gave generously of his time and treasure in many other ways as well. The two of them hosted and guided international students for decades, some of whom became beloved members of the extended “family.” Early retirement enabled them to contribute many hours of volunteer work, including as Lutheran mission volunteers in Slovakia, Korea, and Latvia. Bill was guided by a desire to do right by others, which, for him, included planting trees under whose shade he did not expect to sit, crafting business transactions to be “win-win”, and voting in every election.

Bill will be remembered by friends and family alike for his easy-going nature, humility, warm-hearted generosity, and especially his quirky sense of humor. He was never one for sentimental words, but it wasn't unusual to see him teary-eyed at significant family occasions. Grandchildren Chelsea and Andrew were particularly touched to see this at their adoption ceremony in 2017.

Bill is survived by his lovely bride of 62 years, Patricia, daughter Debra (Kyle) Rogers, son Mark Preston (Wendy Sheasby) Henke, granddaughters Chelsea (Shannon) Schrunk-Crivello, Sarah Rogers, and Rachel Rogers; grandsons Andrew Crivello and Zachary Rogers - all of whom he’d say were “not-half bad.”

Many thanks to Mayo Hospice and the wonderful nurses who made it possible for Bill to stay home until the end. In accordance with his wishes, Bill’s body has been donated to Mayo Clinic for the advancement of medical research.

A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, January 14, 2023, at St. James Trinity Lutheran Church, 305 South State Street, Fall Creek, Wisconsin. The service will be at 2:30 p.m., with visitation at 1:00 p.m. Officiating pastors will be Rick Biedermann and Ned Lenhart.

"The Celebration of Bill Henke's life will be live-streamed on Facebook and YouTube, and will also be available for viewing afterwards. Click here to watch on Facebook . Click here to watch on YouTube ."

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that memorial gifts be made to:

Beaver Creek Reserve - Henke Acres Fund

S1 County Rd. K

Fall Creek, WI 54742

https://tinyurl.com/4z9h7krb

The Fall Creek Historical Society

P.O. Box 392

Fall Creek, WI 54742

St. James Trinity Lutheran

P.O. Box 279

Fall Creek, WI 54742