On Friday, Sept. 13, 2013, at Angel’s Touch Assisted Living in De Pere, William Stuart Woodward, a Green Bay businessman and longtime summer resident of Shawano, died precisely as he would have wished: surrounded by his wife of 57 years and his children. “Bill,” as he was universally known, was a victim of metastatic melanoma, detected only four months earlier. He was 81 years old.
For more than 40 years, Bill and his wife, Noreen, brought their children and then their grandchildren to Shawano Lake to swim, sail, power boat, jet and water ski. It was his favorite place to be.
A native of Rocky River, Ohio, Bill Woodward graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1954 with a degree in engineering. While serving stateside as an Army officer, he married Noreen Gallagher of Shawano, a graduate of St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Ind., and sister to current resident John Gallagher.
After working at Rex Chain Belt in Milwaukee, Bill moved his family to Green Bay in 1967, where, with a handful of mechanical pencils, a slide rule and an office in the basement, he established his firm of manufacturers’ representatives, the W.S. Woodward Company. By 1985, the company employed five sales representatives with sales of over $3 million. Bill liked nothing better than solving materials-handling problems for clients, and, in 1984, patented a “stub idler,” which he sold along with other conveyor parts through his second company, Bassco.
A committed Roman Catholic, Bill regularly attended daily Mass at Resurrection Church in De Pere, where he served on the school board and, until his illness, on the parish council. He believed that faith required service to others, which he provided as a board member of Family Services in Green Bay, support work for the Menominee tribe and the St. Vincent de Paul Society. Always handy with tools, in retirement Bill traveled to Resurrection’s sister parish in Mississippi to do repair work after a hurricane there.
Bill was a keen fan of the Packers and the Fighting Irish. Athletically adept himself, he played tennis and baseball well into his 60s and remained an avid golfer; he had just finished a round the day his cancer was diagnosed. But his later life centered on his grandchildren — especially their own athletic development, which he followed in person at their football, basketball, hockey and soccer games.
Mr. Woodward is survived by his wife, Noreen, a retired nurse practitioner; a son, William S. Woodward, and two daughters, Mary Beth Freberg and Kathleen A. Biebel, all of Green Bay, and daughter, Suzanne M. Szuhaj, of Oakland, Calif.; a sister, Nancy Bouhall, of Bay Village, Ohio; a brother, Kenneth L., of Chicago; a brother, Robert A., of Potomac, Md.; and 11 grandchildren, Quinn and Jenna Freberg, Kathleen, Patrick and Gretchen Biebel, Allison, Will, Madeline and Sophia Woodward, and Samantha, Jake and Isabelle Szuhaj.
Visitation will be held at Resurrection Church in De Pere on Wednesday, Sept. 18, beginning at 9:30 a.m., with a prayer service at 10:30 a.m. followed by a funeral Mass at 11 a.m.
Visitation will be held at Resurrection Church, 333 Hilltop Drive, Allouez, on Wednesday, Sept. 18, beginning at 9:30 a.m. until the hour of the funeral Mass at 11 a.m. with Bishop Robert Morneau officiating.
Cotter Funeral Home, De Pere, is assisting the family.
In lieu of flowers, donations will be accepted for a memorial fund in Bill’s name.
Online condolences may be expressed at www.cotterfuneralhome.com.
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