Funeral Services For William "Bill" Wiese

Funeral services for William F. “Bill” Wiese, age 83, of Wausa, Nebraska will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 29, 2017, at Thabor Lutheran Church in Wausa. Reverend Carl Sirotzki will officiate, with burial in Lutheran Cemetery in Wausa.

Military Honors will be provided by Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5824 and Army National Guard Honor Guard.

Visitation will be Friday from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the church.

Brockhaus Funeral Home in Wausa is in charge of arrangements.

Bill died Wednesday, April 26, 2017, at Wausa Care and Rehabilitation Center in Wausa.

William Ferdinand Wiese was born January 27, 1934. Bill was the oldest of three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Reinhold (Dorothy Hansen) Wiese on a farm east of Bloomfield, Nebraska. He attended school at the Hamlet School until his family moved to a farm northeast of Wausa, Nebraska, where he attended the Goldenrod School through the eighth grade. Bill attended Wausa High School, where he participated in football, basketball, and track. He graduated in 1951. While attending high school, Bill became interested in photography, which would become a lifelong passion. His mother enrolled him in a home study course through the New York School of Photography. After high school, Bill attended Yankton College for one year. He was drafted into the United States Army in 1953, where he was stationed in Fort Chaffee, Arkansas before being transferred to Germany in January of 1954. On January 16, 1954, Bill married Geraldine Carlson, before leaving for Germany. While he was in Germany, Bill was an Army photographer. He was honorably discharged on September 10, 1955.

Upon returning home, Bill and Geraldine began farming, which they did together for 39 years before retiring and moving to town. During Bill’s time on the farm, he continued to pursue his love for photography as a freelance photographer. He also served on the Wausa School Board, Thabor Lutheran Church Council, was a Sunday School teacher, served on Knox County and State of Nebraska Pork Boards, Nebraska State Board of the Association for Retarded Citizens, and was elected to the board of Service Unit one, serving as chair for four years. In addition, Bill was on the Knox County Fair Board for 25 years and the Rolling Hills Golf Course Board for 25 years. In 1990, he received an award for Ridge Till and Soil Conservation and in 1979, he received Outstanding Commercial Pork Producer and in 1991, he received the Outstanding Swine Service Award from the Knox County Pork Producers. He even found time to golf and learned to make his own clubs. When Bill and Geraldine retired, they spent their winters living in Mission, Texas, where Bill honed his skills at table tennis. Bill loved life and enjoyed it to the fullest.

Born to Bill and Geraldine were two children, Paula Wiese Strom of Wausa and Paul Wiese of Redfield, South Dakota. Bill and Geraldine were married for 53 wonderful years before she passed away on March 17, 2007. Bill married Doris Greeno on January 23, 2010.

Leaving to mourn are his children; his grandchildren, Emily Strom Winner and Adam Strom; two great-grandchildren, Folken Winner and Jocelyn Strom; three step-great-grandchildren; his sister, Marcia and her husband Dennis Hult; his brother, Ron and wife Margaret (O’Connell) Wiese; Doris and her children, Warren and Beth Greeno, Kieth and Linda Folck and Gene and Theresa Korth and their children and grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

​Bill was preceded in death by his wife, Geraldine, and his parents, Reinhold and Dorothy Wiese.

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