William Tschacher

Son, Brother, Marine, Husband, Father & Grandfather, passed away November 22, 2012 @ Shepherd of the Valley Center in Casper, Wyoming, following a long and hard fought battle with cancer. Bill was born on October 11, 1933 in Sidney, Nebraska, the oldest of three boys and four girls to Leonard & Josephine Tschacher. After graduating high school, he worked at the Sioux Ordinance Depot, outside Sidney, helping with the manufacture of bombs & munitions during the Korean War. He joined the United States Marine Corps in 1953, was stationed @ Camp Pendleton, California following Underwater Demolition Training @ Quantico, Virginia, and received an honorable discharged in January of 1956 with the rank of Corporal. He was proud for having served. He married Frances Mazel in 1953 and fathered four sons and a daughter; William Joseph JR., James Howard, Timothy Dale, Steven Lee and Mary Josephine. Following his discharge from "Uncle Sam's Misguided Children", he lived with his young family in parts of Nebraska while working for a short time as a farm/ranch hand, toting mobile homes for Morgan Drive Away and driving for over-the-road trucking companies hauling freight & fuel. In the early 1960's, his gypsy spirit took over and he spent many years working for various oil & gas drilling contractors in Nebraska, Colorado, Texas, Montana and the North Slope in Alaska from floor hand to driller. He spent six years on Amchitka Island in the Lower Aleutian Island Chain, drilling 120 inch test holes 5000 feet deep for Parker Drilling during nuclear bomb testing for the Atomic Energy Commission. While living abroad, he worked as a tool pusher in South America, the North Sea, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Abu Dhabi & Australia. A true world traveler. His health began to fail after living 15 years in Australia. He returned to Wyoming in the mid 1990's and began making pancake welding hoods & mud boards for pipeline welders. BJ's Hoods were purchased & used all over the world. Bill was an exceptional craftsman and a perfectionist when it came to working with wood. Like his father, he had endless patience with wood and took a lot of pride in his finished work. As a young man, he was a charter member of NASCAR during It's infancy on dirt tracks in the 50's, driving "Old 44". His hobbies were fishing, watching NASCAR racing, going to various car shows and playing Bingo. He was preceded in death by his younger brother James Howard, parents Leonard and Josephine, younger sister Patricia Hardin and daughter Mary Redwine. He is survived by his four sons Bill, Jim, Tim and Steve, his sisters Betty Moeller, Linda Hatterman, and Diane Hernandez, his brother Robert, six grandchildren, seven great grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews. "Semper Fi" Dad