William J. Aschoff (Norfolk)

William J. Aschoff

Services for William J. Aschoff , Norfolk, are Wednesday, October 5, 2011, 10 am at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Osmond, NE. Ashburn Funeral Home, Plainview, NE, is in charge of arrangements.

Bill was born November 25, 1935, in rural Osmond and died Friday, September 30, 2011, as a result of a construction accident near Kearney, NE. Bill attended St. Mary’s parochial school and Osmond High School. He graduated from Magnet High School with the class of 1953 while living and working on the Wayne Rohde family farm near Magnet. Soon after graduation, he began working as an operator for Theisen Brothers Const. Co., Osmond.

On April 12, 1958, Bill married Glenda Burt. Over the next nine years, they had eight children. One baby son died at birth.

Bill spent most of his lifetime building roads and working on various other heavy equipment construction projects in and out of Nebraska. For a number of years, he was foreman and superintendent for Theisen Brothers building numerous highways throughout Nebraska, including a section of Interstate 80 from Chappell to Sidney. In 1970 he moved his family from Osmond to Sidney where he taught heavy equipment maintenance and technology at Western Nebraska Technical College. He and his wife also managed the Sidney Elks Club at that time. They returned to eastern Nebraska in 1975 where Bill worked for his brother, Jerry, in the construction part of JACO, Inc.

Over the years, Bill managed a quarry operation in Prescott, AR., for Brown & Root Co., Dallas, TX; supervised development of a golf course in Mammoth Lakes, CA., and a Boeing project in Everett, WA, for Sellin Const.Co., Wenatchee, WA; moved earth in the Ruby Mountain mines near Elko, NV., worked on a housing project for S.W. Rodgers near Woodbridge, VA; and had a part in building many roads throughout Nebraska and other states.

Bill officially retired at the age of 65, but missed being active and the comradery of men he’d worked with through the years. He occasionally would accept a call to work on a construction site within a few hours from home. He died doing what he loved to do.

Bill is survived by his wife of 53 years and seven children, Jeanne (John) Reigle of Madison, John (Jodi) Aschoff of Columbus, James (Lisa) Aschoff of Milford, Julia (Mike) Weidner of Madison, Joel Aschoff of Norfolk, Jerry (Andrea) Aschoff of Pierce, Jana (Mark) Niewohner of Albion, 20 grandchildren, 7 great grandchildren, 2 brothers, Ron Aschoff, Osmond, and Gerald Aschoff, Madison, three sisters, Barbaralee Hansen, Angela Aschoff, and Roseanne Ryan, Sioux Falls, SD, 2 half brothers, Steve Thelen, Osmond, and Darrel Thelen, Norfolk, and their families. He was preceded in death by infant son, Joseph, his parents, Henry and Leona, and several siblings and/or their spouses.