William "Bill" Wesling
May 26, 1935 - February 25, 2024
Bill, Dad, Uncle Bill, Grandpa, Groospa was born on May 26, 1935 to Margaret "Mike" and Otto
"Hap" Wesling in Fort Wayne, Indiana. A salesman from the beginning, he once sold magazines
for one day at the age of seven and came home with more money in his pockets than his pop
made in a week. Once he could navigate a bicycle, he started peddling newspapers, and eating
donuts. He was obviously successful because he once came home to a new car in the driveway.
Apparently, his parents thought he was saving his money for them. Eventually, he did buy a car
for himself and moved on to bagging groceries then selling Peter Pan peanut butter.
Around this time, he met his bride, Judy Herber, and became a regular around the Herber
dinner table, enjoying his future mother-in-law Dorothy's pie and trying his best to stay out of his
father-in-law June's way. A neighbor once reported to June that he had witnessed Bill teaching
Judy to drive down their dirt road "having a helluva good time" and described Judy running off
the road, somehow causing damage to both sides of the car.
Bill and Judy were married on July 6, 1957. Bill was now selling insurance, earning his CLU
license, and on his way to being top salesman, a title he would hold nearly every year
throughout his 50-year career. They enjoyed annual free trips with friends Bud and Lu Toll and
Bob and Sue Cannon and forever shared their stories of excess while on these trips . They
moved to Marion, Indiana where Bill bought a VW bug and had his insurance information
painted on the doors. Imagine his 6'3" frame crawling in and out of that thing a dozen times a
day for ten years!
In Marion, Bill and Judy began their side-hustle of flipping run down apartment houses and
either selling them or renting them out. Through these efforts, Bill became a self-taught
handyman and carpenter, all without the aid of YouTube videos. They bought a 100 year old
home and, without any help from their daughters, turned it into a true showpiece. They moved
on to a third-floor walk up Victorian apartment, exchanging renovation for the rent. In 1990, they
designed and built a home on Sylvan Lake in Rome City, Indiana. Once it was framed, Bill took
over to complete the plumbing, wiring, heating, and woodwork, while Judy did the finish work.
This home would become a destination spot for friends and family, Judy cooking for everyone
and Captain Bill running their pontoon boat around the lake, sometimes three or four times a
day, always with a Bud Light nearby.
Always with Judy, Bill regularly traveled to the homes of family and friends with his 5-gallon lard
bucket of tools to help others with their home renovation projects. He installed new kitchens,
fixed up basements, tore out walls, installed new ones, built fences, added bathrooms, installed
ceiling fans, anything that needed done. He renovated two kitchens for Mindy and Andy. In
2003, Bill helped Jennifer design and build her dream home over the course of a year.
Bill and Judy came from Indiana and worked at Interlochen for two weeks for many summers,
Judy in the kitchen and Bill at the crosswalk. After the first few days that first summer, Jennifer
told her dad he was not allowed to call out, "HEY GOOD LOOKIN'" every time he saw her.
Ten years later, they would move permanently to Michigan, living with Jennifer and helping her
take care of her dog Brody. Bill renovated the basement, mowed the grass several times a
week, kept the leaves cleaned up and the snow shoveled. He volunteered regularly at the
Salvation Army, receiving Volunteer of the Year in 2016. During this time, Bill resurrected his
childhood hobby of building balsa wood model airplanes that he would share with dozens of
children. He once set up a wire that ran from a tree down the hill, attached a plane, set it on fire
and everyone cheered when it crashed in a ball of flames!
Bill was the epitome of a gentleman, never walking through a door in front of a woman, and
always saying thank you for any food that was prepared for him, even a baloney sandwich.
"Mighty fine!" was his signature compliment and sometimes you would get four or five of those
in a single meal. His smile was ever present and he never had a bad day, or even a bad hour, in
his whole life. He enjoyed "one beer a day" and always appreciated it when someone joined
him.
Bill is survived by his Judy, daughters Mindy Marfurt (Andy) and Jennifer, grandchildren Drew
Marfurt, Hayley (Sloane) Perrault, 4-legged Camper, honorary children Diana, Terry, Tom, Nancy
and Jean, countless nieces and nephews, and best friends Becky, Leaf Blower, and Shop Vac