William Henry Wolfhard, known as Bill
Born June 4, 1923, died December 1, 2002
William was the child of Harry Wolfhard and Duretta Wolfhard
William married Eleanor Knechtel in 1946
William had the following children: Susan Wolfhard and Peter Wolfhard
William was born in Elmira, Ontario.
He and his older sister, Leslie lived at 76 Arthur Street until they moved to 473 Queen Street South, Kitchener in 1930.
At a young age, Bill injured his spleen jumping over a fence and had it removed.
Bill excelled at skiing, gymnastics and swimming, winning many awards. He was a member of the Chicopee Ski Club when it was first opened. He spent his summers at camp and the family cottage in Port Dalhousie.
He was a rebel in his youth. Getting in trouble from time to time at school and crashing his dad’s car. He was popular in school as he had his own car.
As a teen, he worked during the summers on Great Lake freighters. His Captains were Captain Bird and Captain Jack Allen.
When the war started, Captain Allen’s warship was torpedoed near Africa. Upon Captain Jack’s death, Bill joined the Navy. First he was a gunnery instructor in Hamilton and then an Able Body Seaman on the H.M.S. Middlesex. While off the coast of Halifax, his radar screen blew up and he was temporarily blinded. He spent from January to July 1945 in a hospital in Halifax.
William in World War II
His time in the Navy wasn’t always by the book. On leave in New York City, he and his Navy pals got arrested in Times Square and spent the night in jail.
After the war, Bill worked at Panill Veneer in Kitchener for a short while and then worked at Merchants Rubber in the carpet underlay division.
He married Eleanor Knechtel on February 2, 1946. Wedding announcement They honeymooned at the Limberlost ski lodge in Huntsville, arriving by train.
They rented the upstairs of 775 Queen South but shortly after moved into 474 Queen Street South. This was a rental property Duretta owned beside the Joseph Schneider Museum. Their first child Susan was born in 1948 and lived at 474 Queen through her early years.
He built a house in Westmount in Waterloo in 1952 on Stanley Drive. Their second child, Peter was born in 1954 and spent his childhood there.
In 1963, He accepted the position of Sales Manager at The Oriental Carpet Manufacturer (OCM) in Toronto. He commuted daily. Shortly after, he moved to Grand Hill Drive, near the 401 to reduce some of the commuting time.
They sold the house in Waterloo in 1965 and the family lived for a few months with Grandma and Grandpa down the street at 240 Stanley before moving out to Grand Hill Drive. There were interesting times having four adults, a teenager and a 10 year old all living in close quarters.
OCM was purchased by Burlington Carpet Mills and Bill became Vice President of sales for the company, still commuting to Toronto. Burlington Mills . In 1975, they moved to 187 Lincoln Road, an executive house built by Carl Dunker with a private back yard and concrete pool.
Burlington Mills forced him into early retirement. He then became the General Manager for a growing buying group of retail carpet stores, The Floor Connection. He excelled as he knew where the hidden margins and rebates were with the manufacturers.
Bill and Ellie were active in sports. They skied until his old knee injuries caught up with him. They played Badminton regularly at the KW Granite Club. Bill was president of the club in the 60’s. They also golfed. They were first members of the Grand River Golf Club near Bridgeport and later joined the Westmount Golf and Country Club. Bill was also a ‘Y’s man. He with other Y’s men built the K-W YMCA camp near Honey Harbour on Beausoleil Island, called Wabanaki. He and his friends spent many ‘Spring times’ at Wabanaki getting the camp ready for the summer camping season.
Bill loved boats. As a teen he built small wooden sail boats and power boats. In the early 1960’s, he built a sailboat over the winter in his father’s garage when they were in Florida. In the late 60’s, he owned cruising powerboats that he kept on Sparrow Lake on the Trent 
river.
In the 70’s, Bill became passionate about motorcycles. He and Ellie became bikers and joined a gang, their other motorcycle friends. They would take trips and stay in hotels. One trip was through the Canadian Rockies after having the bikes shipped to Calgary.
In the fall of 1984, his wife Ellie was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. They moved to Forsyth Drive in Waterloo, a one level bungalow for easier accessibility. Lincoln Road had a lot of steps.
Ellie died in August, 1986.
In 1989, Bill remarried to Esther Treusch, a childhood friend who’s husband died around the same time Ellie died. They moved to New Hamburg. Esther had a family cottage near Sauble Beach and they wintered in a community near Bradenton, Florida.
William died in 2002. He had circulation problems that lead to a serious infection in his foot that lead to septicaemia. It was believed that the lack of his spleen contributed as well as smoking.
The Wolfhards 