William Stewart Woodward

On Friday, September 13 at Angel’s Touch Assisted Living in De Pere, William Stewart 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 forty 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, OH, 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, IN 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 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 DePaul 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 sixties 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, a retired nurse practitioner; a son, William S. Woodward (Jeanne) and three daughters, Mary Beth Freberg (Mark) and Kathleen A. Biebel (Daniel), of Green Bay, Suzanne M. Szuhaj (Matthew) of Oakland, CA; a sister, Nancy of Bouhall Bay Village, OH; a brother Kenneth L. of Chicago, IL, a brother Robert A. of Potomac, Md., and eleven grandchildren: Quinn and Jenna Freberg, Nicole Pettit, Patrick and Gretchen Biebel; Allison, Will, Madeline and Sophia Woodward; and Samantha, Jake and Isabelle Szuhaj. Visitation will be held at Resurrection Church, 333 Hilltop Drive, Allouez, on Wednesday, September 18 beginning at 9:30 a.m. until the hour of funeral mass at 11 a.m., with Bishop Robert Morneau officiating. Cotter Funeral Home, De Pere, is assisting the family. Online condolences may be expressed at www.cotterfuneralhome.com. In lieu of flowers donations accepted to a memorial fund in Bill’s name.