|
Obituary
Robert “Bob” Wolf age 76 of Ferryville passed away Saturday, December 5, 2020 at Crossing Rivers Healthcare following a brief illness. He was born February 2, 1944 in Milwaukee WI, the son of Alfred and Rose (Bonk) Wolf. He graduated from Whitefish Bay High School in 1962 after which he entered the U. S. Air Force with his good friend Bob Race under the buddy system. He and Bob served their country for the next four years, with his buddy being sent to Spain, and Bob spending his last year in the Air Force at the air base in Thule, Greenland. Bob always said, “The military wanted their best men as the country’s last line of defense”, so they stationed him in Greenland for his last long year!
After his service to the country, he returned to Whitefish Bay, & became a Firefighter for the village of Brown Deer. Shortly after, Bob accepted a job for the City of Brookfield Fire Department. He served the citizens of Brookfield for 28 years, & retired as an Equipment Operator. He was a proud member of Brookfield Firefighters Union L-2051, & Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin. During that time also, Cindy & Bob were owners/operators of B’s Lawn Care Service, where the motto was, “We do a Honey of a Job”!
Following his retirement from the firehouse, Bob, Cindy, and his German Wirehairs moved to their farm in rural Ferryville. Out on the farm, Bob was living a lifelong dream by riding his ATV, planting food for wildlife, cutting firewood, clearing brush, and taking care of the farm. Among his love for the outdoors was obviously hunting his farm also for deer, turkey, ducks, squirrels, morel mushrooms, and whatever else the earth provided. Over the many years, Bob’s love for hunting waterfowl, upland birds, and fishing took him across the Midwest, and into Canada. From places such as Ontario & Saskatchewan, to North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, Texas, and right here at home on the Horicon Marsh and the Mississippi River. Also, usually found on his hunting trips along with his trusted Benelli, he would have one his German Wirehairs with him. Now, they may have not have listened to him all the time, and he had to blow the whistle once in awhile, but that’s what happened when the German girls and the German hunted together.
One fall ritual that Bob made time for every Sunday for 3 hours was to sit down and watch and yell at his Packers, I’m sure there were a number of games that the Packers could hear him yelling! He was a long time member of Ducks Unlimited, and Delta Waterfowl. During Bobs last 23 years here on his farm, and in the Ferryville area, he has met many people, and made many friends. Many stories told, nicknames were given for many, memories were made, and plenty of laughter. He will be missed by many!
He is survived by his wife Cindy, daughter Tammy(Maro) Luna, son Eugene “Geno” Wolf, grandchildren Alondra, Alexis, and Daniel, sister Joann (Paul) Feira, and very special friends Mark (Patty) Giese.
According to Robert’s wishes there will be no formal funeral services at this time. A private family memorial service and burial will be scheduled for a future date.
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Robert Wolf, please visit our floral store. https://www.garrityfuneralhome.com/obituary/Robert-Wolf
|
Jerry Thornbery
Note: This was originally posted in the Message Forum.
’62 Classmates December 6, 2020
I am sorry to report that my lifelong friend Bob Wolf died last night. He had been in a hospital for several days and died of Covid-19.
After retiring from the Brookfield Fire Department, Bob and his wife Cindy moved several decades ago to Ferryville, a small Wisconsin town, located on the Mississippi River, between La Crosse and Prairie du Chien. It was a place where Bob could hunt and fish to his heart’s content.
Once a year our wives and I would gather for an annual dinner in La Crosse. At one of those dinners Cindy Wolf looked at us and said “You guys are so different. How did you ever become best friends?” Good question. Maybe because it was in Bob’s nature to be a friend and not ask questions.
Today, in the midst of my grief, I thought of the time Bob and I reconnected twelve years ago. Brother Norton had called up our Wisconsin cottage number and said “let’s get together.” My wife Carrie and I drove out to Ferryville in our Subaru with an Obama bumper sticker. If you knew Bob, you would correctly surmise that it was unlikely he would ever be a dues paying member of the NAACP. And yet, when I showed up in Ferryville, Bob did not comment about my choice of a political candidate. Instead, he was delighted to see an old childhood friend and excited to show me his place and talk about his recent activities.
Bob’s treatment of me on that visit was a good lesson for this at-times narrow-minded liberal. Longtime relationships, whether it be family or friends, should be more important than politics. And at a time when we find our country so badly divided, perhaps we can take a lesson from Bob Wolf’s philosophy and put aside politics when we are dealing with people to whom we were (and are) close.
I would like to end this remembrance on the upbeat, so let me tell you a few Bob Wolf stories.
Back in 2008, when we pulled into Ferryville for the first time, Bob had told me to call him. “You will never find my place unless I show you the way.” But when we arrived, Carrie could not get reception on her cell phone. I walked over to the nearest bar (Ferryville might be small but it certainly can support more than one tavern) and asked the female bartender if I could use their phone. Viewing this creature from another planet with some suspicion, she asked whom I wanted to call. “Bob Wolf.” “Wolfey? I have his number right here. Let me dial it for you.” And I suspect that this was not the only local barkeep who knew Bob Wolf’s phone number.
A high school story. One time Bob and I were going to the WFB rec center after a basketball game. We had to show a WFB ID to a woman that to this snot-nosed, often obnoxious teen looked like a stern Miss Prune Face. As Bob was searching through his wallet, a condom popped out, right in front of this guardian of the rec center door. Just like the Fonz, Bob calmly picked up the condom, showed the woman his ID, and coolly walked into the rec center. Over a half century later I was recounting with admiration this incident to Norton. “Had it been me, Bob, I would have been shitting bricks, would have run through the rec center wall, and would still be running today.” Bob look at me with a smile and said, “Let me tell you, Jerry. I was shitting bricks.” Gosh, maybe Norton was just as human as as the rest of us.
Last high school story. Bob and I were distant friends with John Engler, class of 1961. With John, as with many others, Bob had a nickname. For Engler, it was Cubes. So that was what some of us called him through high school. A mutual friend once asked me how Bob came up with that nickname. Fifty years later I asked Bob why he called John Engler “Cubes.” Bob looked at me and asked, “Who’s John Engler?” And I think that says a lot about Bob and how he felt about high school. He enjoyed this time at the Bay but he had moved on.
Please, friends of Bob Wolf, do not email or phone Cindy Wolf right now. She is busy with funeral arrangements and dealing with the shock of her life. If interested, and you want to send something to Cindy about your memory of Bob, write her. She would appreciate that. Cindy Wolf, 56138 Boma Road, Ferryville, WI 54628
Sorry to be so long winded. Thanks for indulging me.
Jerry Thornbery
jthornbery@gilman.edu