Obituary of William "Bill" Herle

William “Bill” Alois Herle passed away at the age of 74 years on May 29, 2020 at St. Paul’s Hospital ICU in Saskatoon, SK of COVID-19 related complications.

Bill is survived by: Laura, his loving wife of 52 years; his three children, Alex Herle of Neilburg, Shaun Herle and his wife, Leslee, of Montgomery, Texas and Laurie Gustafsson and her husband, Lars, of Lloydminster; his 8 grandchildren, Taylor (Brandon) Bors, Hanna Herle (Blake), Zach Herle, Brittany (Garrett) Waskow, Brooklyn Herle, Tallyn Herle, Andreas Gustafsson, Kalle Gustafsson; his three great grandchildren, Maisyn and Sadie Waskow and Kaiden Bors; his sisters, Doreen Wildeman and Helen Petrovich.

Bill was predeceased by his parents, Alex and Barbra Herle; his sisters, Madeline Bertoia and Agnes Herle and his brothers-in- law, Avelino Bertoia and Matt Wildeman.

A celebration of life in memory of Bill will be held at a later date.

Donations in memory of Bill may be made to the Neilburg Recreation Board or donor's charity of choice.

 

Eulogy

Dad was born to Alex and Barbra Herle on March 6, 1946. He went to East Manitou School, completing his grade 10 in Neilburg. School was never important to Dad; he would always joke that he completed grade 6 twice and that meant he graduated grade 12. He worked in iron ore mines in B.C during the winters for 2 years before taking over the family farm in 1967. He was so proud to have earned enough money to buy his first car while mining.  He had a very strong work ethic and took over the family farm when he was only 21. Dad’s main passions were farming, auction sales and visiting. He had great pride in his farm and eventually built the shop of his dreams in 2010 so he could work on his equipment all year round. Dad also enjoyed going to auction sales to search for deals. For those who have been to the family farm his yard held many auction sale items. Mom would be caught saying, “Dad just bought another lawn ornament!” Dad also loved to visit and, with any down time he had, he loved to play cards with the neighbours and at family events. He often challenged his grandson, Kalle, whom he taught how to play crib.

I have fond memories of growing up and of being dragged to every small-town hockey rink to watch my brothers play hockey. Dad dedicated many years and put on many miles driving his sons to practices and games. After his sons were done with their hockey years you could still find him watching the Monarchs games in Neilburg and following his grandsons around Alberta and Saskatchewan. Also, in the winter months, Dad loved to jump on his ski-doo and drive to neighbours for coffee or partake in ski-doo rallies. He always talked about his favourite ski-doos, one being his Rupp. One very cold evening we skidooed to our neighbours, Edith and Les Christensen. I always had the privilege of riding with Dad as a youngster. His Rupp had a vent right in front of the handlebars, and I remember yelling to him “Dad, turn up the heat I’m cold!” He teased me about that all the time. In recent years, Dad loved to go to mud drags.

After the spring work was complete it was time to get the mud trucks running.  As long as the mud pit was running in Neilburg Dad was often found trying to prepare the pits or offer a tractor to pull stuck trucks out. When he raced his own trucks, he was like a kid in a candy store. He loved to talk, watch and read about powerful engines. He was a “need for speed” kind of man and received many warning tickets. He often talked his way out of tickets by telling the officers he was on a parts run.

Dad was also a self-taught mechanic. He instilled this knowledge to anyone that wanted to learn. His famous words were, “any dummy can do it.” So, if you didn’t mind being called a dummy you were set. My boys spent many days working along with their grandpa and have now become self-taught mechanics, especially Andreas. In fact, he just swapped out an engine with Dad critiquing him along the way. Dad also treasured his antique tractors and looking for bargains.  He had goals of restoring these tractors. Just before he became ill, he completed a tractor with the help of his grandsons. Kalle will forever remember this time as Dad allowed him to put on the red paint of an old International tractor. Dad was pretty impressed.

Dad will be greatly missed by those close to him. He was always kind and willing to help out with needed equipment for the neighbours and for the community. He didn’t take a lot of down time throughout his years. He enjoyed working; if he didn’t have a project he would make one up. He spent many hours on his cat burying rocks and landscaping his fields. Dad’s best saying, while we were growing up, was “you can sleep when your dead.”  If he was working, we all had to work. Dad would have been incredibly proud this spring during seeding. We got his crop in with only a few hiccups. As per usual, every wet spring, equipment gets stuck at no fault to the operators. When Dad found out we were stuck he would always say “what the hell did you do that for” with the biggest grin, because he knew he was famous for doing it himself almost every spring.

Now, Dad, you can sleep as long as you want, your work on earth is complete. We love you and will miss you so much.

Herle and Gustafsson family.