William H. Peterson, 83, former Whiting resident, currently living at 5625 Sandpiper Drive., Apt. 626, Stevens Point, died Jan. 25, 2012, at the Stevens Point Care Center.
A celebration of his life will take place at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31, at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Stevens Point, with The Rev. Thomas Petersen officiating. A visitation will take place on Monday from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. at Boston Funeral Home with an American Legion Ritual at 6 p.m. There will also be visitation at the church on Tuesday from 10:30 a.m. until time of service. A memorial will be established in Bill’s name at a later date.
Bill was born June 13, 1928 in Chicago, to the late Harry and Lorena (Oustreich) Peterson. He attended grade school in Chicago, moving to Wisconsin Rapids as a teenager with his family and graduating from high school there. Bill began college at Central State Teacher’s College, Stevens Point, in 1947, receiving a Degree in Conservation in 1951.
Bill was inducted into the U.S. Army in 1951 serving in Germany for 18 months. While in Germany, Bill played soccer on the army traveling soccer league. He received an Honorable Discharge in 1953.
Bill married Margery E. Polansky at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Wisconsin Rapids on Sept. 25, 1954.
Following his military service, Bill moved back to Wisconsin Rapids, and joined the state Conservation Department as a Forest Ranger. The Ranger program was new at that time to Wisconsin, and Bill was the second Ranger hired by the state. He was assigned to Portage County, and moved to Stevens Point in 1954. He worked as a Forest Ranger for 33 years, retiring May 16, 1986.
For many years, Bill taught Fire School in Tomahawk to new recruits entering into the DNR firefighter line of work. Bill was deputized by the Portage County Sherriff’s Department and had Warden Credentials. His stories of those times were many and always interesting.
Bill was Fire Chief of the Whiting Fire Department for 42 years. During that time, he was instrumental in developing the department to where it is today; in addition, he helped design two fire stations. In earlier years, Bill was known as a “1 person” Fire Department, before the development of many of the rural departments of today. His role as Smokey the Bear was very important to him.
After retirement, Bill was a County Board Supervisor from 1987 to 2010. Bill was also involved with many committees for the County and served as chairman for the Portage County Parks for a number of years. He was very dedicated to serving the people and his passion for doing so was evident by all the accolades and recognitions he received over the years. He was instrumental in setting up many land purchases by the State of Wisconsin; the Turtle Flambeau Flowage in Iron County, being one of the many projects that he worked on.
Bill was a member of Bill’s Musky Club, 12 Apostles Musky Club, Isaac Walton League, Elks Club #641 and American Legion Post 6.
Bill enjoyed spending time at the family’s cabin in Springstead. His hobbies included, forestry, hunting, conservation, but his real passion was musky fishing.
He is survived by his wife, Margery; children, Connie (Paul) Mikel of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Eric (Lynne) Peterson of Stevens Point. He is further survived by grandchildren, Cassie Chambers, Derek Chambers, Skyler Peterson, and Shayla Peterson; great grandchildren, Michael and Mickey Timms.
Bill is preceded in death by a daughter, Candice.
Bill’s family would like to recognize the staff of the Stevens Point Care Center for the fantastic care they provided over the past few months.
