Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Bill's book on the Wilhelmi family is what got me interested in genealogy when my grandmother Donna Ann Wilhelmi showed me the original copy she had when I was a teenager in about 1990. I have since added to it for current Wilhelmis, as well as my father's & my son's mother's side of the family. I even made a trip to Hambuch Germany, in 2005 because of his research pointing the family roots there.
It saddens me that I had put off reaching out to him over the years, even as recently as this summer and found this memoriam in an effort to do so once again.
If it is any condolence to Mary & their four children, what he did, before the age of personal computers & the internet was nothing short of amazing. He inspired me to spend countless hours document hunting & later internet searching to pass something on to my children.
I hope Bill is smiling somewhere as I enter his final date into my family tree.
