Howard "H.J." Wolf, 78, of West Bend, died Mon. Feb. 21, 2005 at St. Joseph's Community Hospital, West Bend.
He was born on Sept. 7, 1926 in Hartford to the late Roman and Ann (nee Theilmann) Wolf. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during WWII.
On March 31, 1948 he married Ruth Schneider at Holy Angels Catholic Church in West Bend.
He owned and operated H.J. Wolf Excavating from 1956 until his retirement in 1991. He also operated Wolf Recreation from 1969 to 1978 and built Willow Green Golf Course (now West Bend Lakes) in 1975 and operated it until 1981.
He was a member of the Lt. Ray Dickop American Legion Post #36 and was co-founder of the West Bend Military Museum.
He is survived by his wife, Ruth; eight children, Howard "Rusty" (Cheryl) Wolf of Germantown, Helen Wolf, Michael Wolf, Susan (Arthur) Sanger, Elizabeth "Betty" Ruch, all of West Bend, Mark (Mary Kaye) Wolf of Rubicon, David Wolf of West Bend, and Ann (Kurt) Krueger of Mayville; 14 grandchildren, Howard (Tonetta) Wolf, James Wolf, Nicole (Kelly) Minyard, Matt (Tracy) Liepert, Andrea (Jeff) Simon, Adam Sanger, Christopher Ruch, Benjamin Ruch, Amber Ruch, Clare Wolf, Nicolas Wolf, Kiley Krueger, Kira Krueger and Kaleb Krueger; five great-grandchildren, Howard Wolf, Jonathan Wolf, Brett Minyard, Samuel Liepert and John "Jack" Liepert; other relatives and friends.
He was preceded in death by a grandson, Arty Sanger III; his parents-in-law, Alfred and Clara Schneider; and a sister-in-law, Beatrice Schneider.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday, Feb. 25 at 7:00 p.m. at Holy Angels Catholic Church, West Bend. Rev. Gerald Brittian will officiate and burial will be in Holy Angels Cemetery, West Bend, on Sat. at 10:00 a.m.
Visitation will be at the church on Friday from 3:00 p.m. until the time of service with an American Legion walk through at 6:30 p.m.