Obituary: William Walton "Bill" Weiss, 80, of Madison

Obituary: William Walton “Bill” Weiss, 80, of Madison

Posted on: August 22, 2024

William Walton “Bill” Weiss
March 23, 1944 – August 19, 2024
MADISON – Bill Weiss went Walking with The King on Aug. 19, 2024.

William Walton “Bill” was born on March 23, 1944, to Myrtle (Walton) and William Weiss in Philadelphia, Pa. Bill’s father was serving in World War II when Bill was born. He was 17 months old before he met his father for the first time. Until then, Bill and his mother lived with her parents.

His mother and brother died in childbirth when Bill was 2 1/2 years old, and Bill returned to live with his maternal grandparents. Papa Walton had a profound effect on raising Bill, helping him become the gentle man we all knew. Bill’s father remarried when he was 7 and he subsequently had three half-brothers.

Bill and Dotti (Dorothea Zahn) were married on June 6, 1964, in Teaneck, N.J. on the day Bill graduated from Bible School. They moved to Siloam Springs, Ark., so Bill could complete an undergrad degree in Radio and TV Broadcast Production. He was a sign-on personality at the campus radio station, WFAW, and pastored the Community Church in Lowell, Ark., while taking classes fulltime.

They next moved to Chicago, Ill., where Bill was an on-air personality at WMBI (Moody Bible Institute), and then a producer at the station, also teaching a summer school course in broadcasting. Their two daughters were born during this time. He left Moody to become the producer at a recording studio, working with a great variety of clients including Amway Products and Bill and Gloria Gaither.

But teaching had become Bill’s dream, so with two kids in tow, they moved to Bloomington, Ind., to begin a master’s program. Bill completed his master’s from UW-Stout in 1978 while teaching full time at Northwestern College in Roseville, Minn., and part time at Bethel College.

He taught for one year at UW-River Falls while managing their student radio station and then took a position with UW-Whitewater in 1980, teaching full time in their Communications Department. He also began work on his PhD at UW-Madison, completing it in 1988.

Still teaching full-time at Whitewater and serving as Assistant Chair of his department, Bill became the pastor of the Richmond United Methodist Church, and then the pastor of the Emerald Grove Congregational Church. He developed the Advising Program for the Communications Department, winning several awards across the state. He retired from teaching in 2006 as Professor Emerit devoting his time to pastoring, geo caching, camping with Dotti across all of the 49 continental states, and enjoying his family which now included three grandchildren.

A difficult cataract surgery in 2007 resulted in Mild Cognitive Impairment and forced him to retire from the ministry in 2012. By 2016 Bill’s MCI had advanced to a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease. Having taught communication, losing his words as the disease progressed was very painful. But Bill remained the gentle, loving man he had learned to be from his grandfather so many years ago.

Bill closed almost every sermon with “Walk with The King and be a blessing” and he did his best to live that out in his life. He leaves behind his beloved wife of 60 years, Dotti; two daughters, Deb Weiss and Becki Fiegel (John); three grandchildren, Ethan Fiegel, Colin Fiegel and Veronica Fiegel; and countless friends, former parishioners, students and fellow teachers. He will be sorely missed, but remembered with joy.

The family would like to thank the staff at Brookdale Memory Care for their faithful care these past 2 ½ years and for the many staff at Agrace HospiceCare who helped both Bill and Dotti through these past four plus years as Alzheimer’s slowly took its toll.

The Family will be celebrating Bill’s life in a private ceremony. Memorial gifts are not expected, but if you wish to give something in Bill’s memory, Agrace HospiceCare and the Salvation Army would be his choices. Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.