William "Sheriff" Harold Hemke

December 1, 1929 - March 4, 2021

“Sheriff” Bill Hemke

Our Dad was born at Lincoln General Hospital on December 1, 1929, the only child to Harold William Hemke and Marguerite (Helzer) Hemke. Growing up at 10th and “B”, Bill enjoyed sports and riding his bike to Pioneer’s Park to play golf, a passion he would enjoy his entire life.

Upon graduation from Lincoln High in 1947, Bill enrolled in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and began his career in broadcasting by taking on a role as a part-time announcer for KOLN radio (now KLIN). Military service intervened and presented Dad with the opportunity to leave Lincoln and learn to fly airplanes for the Air Force. He always spoke highly of those days and the friends he met while in the service of our country.

He was still in the ROTC when he met our mother, Sheila, at a Truman campaign rally in 1952. They were married in 1953 and remained loving partners until her passing in 2019. Along the way, they moved from Lincoln to Tucson to Grand Island and back to Lincoln, all while raising and educating four children.

Bill was a visionary at the forefront of the media age. He was a production director at KOLN-TV and a frequent voice talent for promotions and commercials. He was also a veteran television director and spent several years in the 1960s directing the production of the “Big 8 Basketball Game Of The Week” for the Television Sports Network, which eventually became a part of the NBC network.

However, our Dad may be best remembered for his role as “Sheriff Bill” in the popular children’s program, “Cartoon Corral”. Working alongside his friend, “Silent Orv” Wissink, Sheriff Bill welcomed a generation of birthday parties and special events to the KOLN studios, in a program built around cartoons, fun, and the occasional wry sense of humor for the parents.

Later in his career, Bill was instrumental in the successful launch of KGIN-TV in Grand Island during the 1970s. In the prime of his life, he enjoyed great success there, punctuated by many memories and friends at Lochland Country Club in Hastings. The family returned to Lincoln in 1980 and Bill finished his career at KOLN and, later, KLIN radio in 1997. Bill and Sheila retired to Arizona in 1998, relishing the blue skies and daily golf.

And it was golf that our Dad enjoyed the most. From the early days of learning the game at Pioneer in Lincoln, to membership at Hillcrest Country Club in the 1960s, to Lochland in the 1970s and then another stint at Hillcrest beginning in 1980, Dad simply adored his weekend golf games with standing tee times of 10:02 on Saturday and 9:37 on Sunday.

Along the way, he met and retained some wonderful friends that are too numerous to name here. Just know that Bill loved his time in your company on the golf course and, to his dying day, yearned to get back out there and play one more time.

Bill is survived by a full family of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren…which is rather remarkable considering that he was an only child. His family includes Douglas (Mignon) Hemke, Karen (Jason) Showman, Kathy (Clark) Bogseth and Craig (Jackie) Hemke. He was also blessed in this life with 14 grandchildren (Alyssa, Nate, Ryan, Mike, Mary, Jenna, Jason, Patrick, Tim, Chris, Matt, Meghan, Maddie and Sammy) and he lived long enough to know 20 great-children (Braxton, Ainsley, Chase, Cole, Lyla Mae, Brayden, Kinsleigh, Timmy, Colby, Ryleigh, Tanner, Emily, Cameron, Kendyll, Kamilla, Bryson, Knox, Cassie, Kash and Ethan). What an incredible blessing!

We will all miss his warm smile, his deep brown eyes and his firm handshake. We will also miss his unique sense of humor, which remained with him to the very end. We love you, Dad, but we’re glad that you’re with Mom in heaven, at rest in Our Lord’s presence.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be directed to Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska. www.cssisus.org

A visitation is scheduled for 4:00-8:00 pm on Monday, March 8 at Lincoln Memorial Funeral Home. Funeral services will be held Tuesday, March 9 at 10:00 am. For those unable to attend, the service will be live-streamed through the (Lincoln Memorial Facebook page link).

Internment at Lincoln Memorial Park will follow. BYOB. lincolnfh.com