William Frederic Weidert Jr.

William F. Weidert, Jr. passed away peacefully on Wednesday, February 2, 2022, in Austin, Texas. Bill was born on July 29, 1948, to William F. and Mary C. Weidert in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was the eldest of their three children. He graduated in 1966 from Churchill Area High School in Pittsburgh. He attended Niagara University in New York and graduated in 1970 with a B.S. Degree, with a major in Travel, Transportation and Tourism and a minor in Philosophy.

He was drawn to travel his entire life. He visited Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Bermuda, Caribbean Islands, Canada, Canary Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, England, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Holland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, Norway, Portugal, Portuguese Angola, Puerto Rico, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Yugoslavia and most of the United States. In all, he cultivated a lifelong appreciation for Germany and all things German. He spent most of his adult life attending college courses and community conversation groups to practice German and would remind everyone that proper German grammar was essential.

Bill’s early professional career was as travel agent in Miami, Florida and Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. He founded a video production company “Mountain Video Corp.” based in Mt. Pocono and remained in commercial video production when he moved to North Carolina. Video produced by his company was shown on all major networks, as well as ESPN, HBO, CNN, and PBS. He frequently advised community colleges on creating and writing travel and tourism curriculum for their developing programs in travel operations and management.

In 1990, Bill started a 25-year career in the aviation industry, beginning in Nashville, Tennessee with American Eagle Airlines. His career took flight and after a number of promotions, he landed in Fort Myers, Florida for 18 wonderful years as General Manager. Bill was a consummate mentor and only felt successful when his team members thrived. He cherished his many professional relationships with Envoy Air, formerly American Eagle Airlines and with the Southwest Florida International Airport Community. Bill immersed himself in the Fort Myers community, considered everyone a friend and spent hours doing volunteer work, fund-raising activities and was an active member of the Chamber of Commerce.

In 2015, Bill left many friends and colleagues when he flew off to his new assignment in Austin, Texas to be with his mother Mary Weidert, his aunt Rita Connelly and his sister Diane Morris and her husband Steve Morris. Bill split his time between his home in Sun City, Georgetown and Austin. While Bill was able to do some airline industry consulting work, he began an even more challenging logistics career as chauffer, caretaker, entertainment coordinator and personal shopper for his mother and aunt.

Family had always been very important to Bill. For many years, he regularly visited Austin to celebrate Christmas, Mother’s Day (including the annual trip to Schlitterbahn), 4th of July and many quick weekend trips in-between. He joined family on cruises and vacations, driving them in his convertible car and introducing to them to questionable pop music. He valued all the family get-togethers and showed especially well as the host of the hospitality room for the entire weekend for Robin and Tom’s wedding in Omaha. Likewise, Bill delighted in dinner parties with friends and was meticulous in planning the menu, including appetizers, wine pairings and decadent desserts. Bill’s appreciation for fine foods never waned, even when recently hospitalized, his only complaint was that the salmon was overcooked.

Bill was a model rocket devotee, he researched every model rocket’s design, construction and flight to build a perfectly aerodynamic model. Bill was a motorcyclist and remote-control car enthusiast and spent hours on his flight simulator programs. His childhood’s fondness of tinkering with his mother’s new kitchen appliances was continued as an adult by building or rebuilding any electrical or mechanical device. He guarded his collection of slide rules, compasses, rulers, and protractors used to complete his geometry and physics worksheets. His tastes were varied - he watched Hallmark movies just as much as Mountain Monsters and had just begun to learn Mahjong. He loved to spend time outdoors, enjoying scuba diving, fishing, boating, and skiing. He was content to sit on the back porch and just talk as well as watch the birds, monitor the squirrels trying to steal his tomatoes, or follow the deer as they ran in the green belt. He threw balls for hours to his beloved dachshunds, Daisy and Eleanor. Bill was a generous and compassionate person, often making anonymous donations. He would give anything he had to others without regard to his own needs. He looked forward to meeting new people and hearing their life stories. Bill immersed himself into any task and did not settle until he was completely satisfied. He was a tenacious, courageous, and faith-filled person and especially during his final years, he exemplified hope and acceptance.

Over this past Christmas, Bill enjoyed visits with Bob and Mimi from Florida, Robin, Tom, their two children, Mary and Owen from Nebraska, Stephanie from Colorado, and Will and Ida from Germany. Then only four weeks later, surrounded by family and his very dear friends Daniela and Friedrich Jaeger, Bill was cleared for his final take off. He was unforgettable and will be greatly missed.

Bill now joins his parents, Mary C. Weidert and William F. Weidert, Sr., his aunts Rita A. Connelly and Catherine "Kay" Connelly Gallagher (John Gallagher), and their granddaughter Morgan Lynn Gallagher, his aunt Eleanor (Joseph) Brunner and their daughter Mary Marcella Brunner, his uncle Robert (Bonnie) Weidert, and his uncle John (Betty) Weidert, who predeceased him in death.

Bill is survived by his brother Robert M. (Margaretmary “Mimi”) Weidert of Indian Harbour Beach, Florida, and his sister Diane (Steve) Morris of Austin, Texas. He is also survived by his nieces and nephew: Robin (Thomas) Breazier of Gretna, Nebraska, and their two children, Mary Jean, and Owen Austin; Stephanie Lennon Morris of Fort Collins, Colorado; and William F. “Will” Morris of Hamburg, Germany.

Bill is also survived by Terry Weidert, Frances Weidert, and Joe (Janet) Brunner. He is also survived by Kay and John's seven children Jane (Don) Fuller, John (Patti) Gallagher, Mark Gallagher, Mike (Debbie) Gallagher, Maurita (David R., Sr.) Krieger, Caren (Tom) Eppler, Joyce Gallagher as well as Kay's grandchildren Scott (Janet) Shannon, Rod (Claire) Fuller, Patrick (Karen) Fuller, Zach Krieger, David R. (Alison) Krieger Jr., Kristina (Dave) Green, Kevin (Amanda) Gallagher, Lauren (Cesar) Gallagher, Colin Gallagher Rossi, Ryan (Candace) Eppler, and Sarah Eppler and great grandchildren Violet Gagel Gallagher and Rio Garcia-Gallagher.

In lieu of flowers, Bill would have wanted donations to be made to a local animal shelter.

A funeral mass will be held in Austin, Texas on March 23rd at 1:30 pm at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, 9500 Neenah Ave., with an interment in Ridgway, Pennsylvania later in the summer.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.cookwaldenchapelofthehills.com for the Weidert family.