William Walter Uhlig Jr.

William Walter Uhlig Jr., first of his family to be born in a hospital on 11 June 1930, passed away peacefully with his family at his lifelong beloved Glidden farmhouse on 18 May 2025. He was the son of William Uhlig Sr, who was the first of his family to be born in the USA, and Mary Uhlig, nee Zimmerman. She was the daughter of one of the first settlers in the Glidden area who arrived three years before Glidden was even established. Her father arrived and homesteaded in Shanagolden in 1873. Bill was a lifelong resident of Glidden, only straying away to serve his country in the Navy SeaBees and a short attempt at working construction with a lot of other Glidden boys in Milwaukee where they ended up driving home to Glidden after work on Friday and returning to Milwaukee Monday morning just in time to go to work. After doing this for a bit they wondered why they were trying to make something work that just wasn’t right for them and they came back home permanently to Glidden. Bill started logging with his father at age 8. He helped with the two man saw and with the team of horses. At age 9 he shot his first buck. Wm Sr. put him on the stand and told him that he was going to go back to the farm and hitch up the horses to haul some hay. Bill said that he was barely out of sight when a small buck approached. He lined up his sights and the deer dropped. He was so excited that he ran barefooted back to the farmhouse where Wm Sr. asked him what was wrong because he hadn’t even hitched the horses yet. Bill logged and farmed in the Glidden area until he was 85. He said that he was very pleased when in 1947 they got electricity on the farm and he didn’t have to use the pump jack to pump water by hand for 40 head of cows three times a day. He was also excited to get a party telephone line in the mid 50’s. He quit working Saturdays in his 50’s and later in his 60’s decided that it was “too hard on the machinery” to log anymore when it was well below zero or the snow was too deep. By his 80’s he gave up cutting pulp, saying that “Young Bobby Bay” and Mike Maier could log the pulpwood because, “they do a good job”. He continued to log the better hardwood veneer and sawlogs and said that no matter what, he had to at least cut down one tree when he went to work. He explained that then you needed to do that so that you had someplace to sit. He loved sharing the woods life with anyone who would listen and would bring home treasures that he found while out working. A hat full of morel mushrooms or a bouquet of arbutus for his appreciative wife. Often were the tales of a fawn that he stepped over, a nest of flying squirrels that climbed over his leg or the big bear or rare moose tracks that he saw. Bill loved the outdoors and was a superb fisherman and loved to be out on the water. Somehow, he knew where the fish would be and how to effortlessly present a bait that would entice a strike. A skill that he was never able to successfully pass on. Thousands of times he would tell us to cast by a log or a rock and after a few unsuccessful attempts he would flick his lure right where yours had just been and pull out a beautiful walleye or trout, proclaiming, “I got one hung!” This of course caused great frustration in his fishing partners and he would apologize profusely that he just wanted you to catch a fish. He couldn’t remove the smile from his face however. Bill fished wherever he could. As a kid he would catch a logging train in front of the house or ride his bike out east of town to fish. Often staying overnight in a lean-to or broken-down logging camp building. He fished in many states, Canada, Alaska and the Pacific Coast from the Gulf of Alaska to Cabo San Lucas. On his last fishing trip, he managed to boat a beautiful Chippewa River golden musky. Bill loved to hunt and managed to hunt caribou in Quebec, Dall Sheep in Alaska, deer and antelope in Montana. While not taking any game while on Safari with Paul’s family Bill loved the experience of hunting in South Africa. He loved hunting ducks on several trips to North Dakota with Paul, Cody and Travis. He of course never missed the Wisconsin deer, grouse or duck opener. He hunted enthusiastically until he was 90 getting his final doe that year on Paul’s farm. He got his final buck hunting on his own at 87 just behind his farmhouse. He finished high school in three years. He took a gap year his freshman year of high school playing hooky to fish and hunt while working on the farm and in the woods. Wm Sr didn’t mind because he himself started living & working at age 12 in a livery stable because his widowed mother couldn’t afford to feed him. Eventually the truant officer made a call to the Uhlig farm and Billy was convinced to go back to school as he said he was required to do until he was 16. He decided that if he had to go back to school that long he might as well work hard and graduate with his class so he set his mind to it and did just that. In the spring of 1954, he was coming out to the road after fishing the East Fork of the Chippewa River while a pretty young gal was going in with some other of her girlfriends. A teacher in Glidden, Constance Burlager, asked if he caught anything and he smiled profusely while showing her his creel full of a limit of trout. (In those days the DNR would stock the river with browns and brookies). She wondered if he would share his catch and he replied that he, “Left her a few” in the river. Little did he know then that he had met the catch of his life, or was he the catch of hers? Two years later on June 23, 1956 they were married under a bit of scandal in the Washburn Catholic Church. It turns out that it was a mixed marriage, Bill was Lutheran and Connie was Catholic. After getting approval from the powers that be the blessed union proceeded. The honeymoon was off to Yellowstone National Park. A place that was one of their favorites in the world and they loved to return to. Bill and Connie lived a life of service. Service to God, family, town and country. Bill served as a Town of Peeksville Supervisor for over thirty years, Trinity Lutheran Church board president and many other rolls over the years. He was instrumental in building the new Trinity church on Hwy 13 in 1978 serving as head of fundraising and on the building committee. He organized a work crew to go to the Dan Rast gravel pit and split rock for the front façade. He logged oak from his own land and had it sawn for behind the altar, the large cross, the altar itself and the rail. Bill, Paul and Bill’s brother in law, Clarance Hetfeld worked to have it dried and planed at the mill in Glidden. Clarence built the altar and cross in his garage and Bill and Paul helped when he needed strong backs. Whenever someone needed help Bill would figure out how to do something whether it was putting together Christmas cookie packages for old single lumberjacks or fundraisers for someone’s emergency Bill could be counted on. Well into his 90’s Bill would be at the Lutheran lunch stand helping out on aching arthritic knees, hips and back wherever he still could. After that honeymoon to Yellowstone the travel bug got into Bill and Connie and they loved to explore and fish the world together with their family. Family trips were mostly to wild places across the American West and Canada. Later when they were retired, they traveled to Nova Scotia, Branson, MO, Europe, Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii and at 83 Bill took a lifelong dream Safari to The Republic of South Africa. They also loved taking their grandchildren on fishing and camping trips across the west and Canada when summers rolled around. Their marriage was blessed with four children of their own, one foster daughter and dozens of young folks who were mentored while working on the farm or in the forests, lakes and streams with him. Their service to others included foreign exchange students who they shared a life long love of as their foreign sons. Andy Feitknecht from Altdorf, Switzerland and the Cano boys Alfredo, Paco and Alex from Tampico, Mexico. Bill lived a full life that cannot be summarized by one small story. He will be missed by all, but fish everywhere are rejoicing in knowing that they will grow old and fat with his passing. He bore witness to a time of mainly horses and carriages to jet travel around the world. Living through WW2 and the great depression he valued everything good in life. He is survived by his spouse of nearly 69 years Constance Uhlig nee Burlager: half-siblings Oscar Uhlig of Vancouver, WA, Janet Jones of Pauls Valley, OK, and Joyce Uhlig of Houston, TX; His children, Mary Hamilton and her spouse John of Corcoran, MN, Paul Uhlig and his spouse Donna of Fall Creek, WI and Jane Gustafson and her spouse Steve of Butternut, WI, foster daughter Carolyn Waabinekwe Saari: Grandchildren, Cody, Travis & Laura Uhlig, Jenna and Will Gustafson; great grandchildren Mathew & Lilliana Uhlig and many nieces and nephews. He is predeceased by his parents, Brother David & sister Ruth of Ontonagon, MI, sisters Mabel & Clara of Marshfield, WI, and Sisters Laura & Florence of Glidden, WI; half-brother Fred of CA; Son David who died at age 2 on Bill’s birthday and Grand Daughter Deanna. A Christian funeral will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church in Glidden at 11 AM, on Friday 23 May 2025, with Rev. Ken Lahner officiating. Military honors will follow the service. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service. Internment will be in Mount Hope Cemetery.

William Walter Uhlig Jr.

June 11, 1930 - May 18, 2025