William Engaas

85

In the early morning of June 17, 2026, Valhalla received another brave Viking warrior to honor and celebrate, William “Bill” Lee Engaas.

Bill was born on April 19, 1941, to the late William and Eleanor (Engh) Engaas, in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. He fondly shared tales of his childhood to all who enjoyed listening to them. Some stories also included his siblings, the late Rolland (Marge) Engaas, and Lori (Bob) Ludwig.

As a young adult, Bill attended UW-LaCrosse and graduated with a degree in secondary education, specializing in English. Bill taught English, speech, and mythology. He was also heavily involved in school plays in all the schools where he was contracted to teach. But it was the School District of West Allis-West Milwaukee where he made his professional home. WA-WM offered him his first contract in 1970 to teach at Central High School. After 32 years of teaching thousands of Bulldogs, including Olympic gold medalist Dan Jansen, Bill retired in 2002. His most prized possession from his years of teaching was a sketch of Medusa one of his students gave him as a thank you gift. Bill framed it and put it up in every home he and Kris lived in.

On July 3, 1993, Bill married the love of his life, Kris, after friends set them up a year prior. This year, they would have celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary. Bill and Kris enjoyed hosting family gatherings in their West Allis bungalow and later in their New Berlin ranch where often times, Bill would bring out his camera and take his famous candid photos of people eating, sneezing, or just having a silly time. On Thanksgiving all males attending the feast would be gifted a Native American necklace to wear during the festivities. It was in their first home, the bungalow, where Bill welcomed his first grandchildren with his wit, laughter, and endless hours of storytelling, trivia, and games.

Bill was passionate about many things, reading about Native American history, his Norwegian heritage, spending time with family, long car rides ending up at a flea market or antique shop, and fishing. But nothing compared to his favorite past-times which were watching the Badgers, Packers, and collecting antique radios.

As a warrior, Bill battled stage 3 prostate cancer and won. But shortly afterwards, a new battle was brewing on two fronts: Parkinson’s disease and dementia. He fought valiantly, but in the end, it was just too much.

Bill was predeceased by his brother and wife, Rolland and Marge Engaas, and his nephew, Michael Engaas.

He is survived by his beloved wife, Kris; his sister, Lori (Bob) Ludwig; Erika (Tim) McCue, Caeli McCue, Kiera McCue; Darren (Amanda) Engaas, Desmond Engaas; his bonus children Shawn (Rich) Verdoni, Ken (Dana) Hanrahan; his grandchildren Erin Verdoni (Chance Smith), Jonah Verdoni, Charlotte (Brandon) Conroy, Chloe (Brendon) Light, Ruby Hanrahan; great-grandson, Seth Conroy; his nieces and their families Lindsay (Eric) Hoaglan, Connor Hoaglan, Kinley Hoaglan; Kristin (Erik) Helling, Brielle Helling, Keaton Helling and Dawn (Greg) Grabowski.

On Thursday, July 16th, a brief visitation for Bill will begin at 11 am. Bill’s Celebration of Life will begin at noon in the Family Center at the Wisconsin Memorial Park Cemetery located at 13037 W. Capitol Drive in Brookfield. Use the north entrance (overhang).

Bill’s family requests that guests please wear red, as that was Bill’s favorite color. Also, in lieu of flowers, please consider making a memorial gift to the charity of your choice.