Person:William Rothgeb (1)

Second Worl War as a shipbuilder and later as a Coast Guardsman at the tail end of WWII Name Suffix:<NSFX> Jr Cause of Death:<CAUS> cardiac arrest William August Rot hgeb was born to a German family that immigrated from Bavaria Germany to Quincy , Illinois. William was a football player in high school and worked for a hote l in almost every position. William loved to cook and did so his entire life, at home. He was living in Galesburg IL when he met Margery Dellinger of Mommot h on a blind date. They fell in love and in December, 1936 they eloped and mar ried in New London MO. William has sat all night in his Model A waiting for Ma rgery who couldn't sneak out. In the morning she left for school as usual (col lege) and met William and off the went. They wired home from New London and wh en they got to Texas, Margery's truck of clothes were waiting at the train stat ion. They then drove on to Los Angeles. There they met a man by the name of O tto Kingsley who wanted to start a towing service at his ranch on the highway b etween Tucson, AZ and Nogales, Mexico. He asked William and Margery if they wo uld be interested in working there. So they moved to Kingsley Ranch. After so me months it became obvious it wouldn't be a great job so they moved to Tucson. There they built a house out of adobe---mixing the mud and straw with there f eet! Their first daughter was born, Marlene. William at that time was working for a loan company. He had experience since his father owned a collection age ncy in Galesburg. When the WW II broke out he tried to enlist but he had very bad eyes and flat feet. So they moved to Seattle where he could build ships. Margery continued her piano education and taught music. In 1943 there second d aughter, Wilhelmina, was born. William and a "friend" began a furniture buildi ng company in a warehouse on Puget Sound. William and family lived upstairs of the warehouse. The "friend" skipped town with all of the company funds and Wil liam had to file bankruptcy. William and Margery worked for years paying all o f the creditors back every dime. After the bankruptcy they moved to Oak Park I L. William worked for Borden mild and then went back into the loan business. From there the family moved many places while William set up new branches in Lo uisville, Lexington, and New Orleans. Margery was teaching piano and writing m usic. When in Louisville they met Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart. They became close friends of William and Margery and cut one of Margery's songs she had wri tten. They also got Bing Crosby to record a song of hers. Eventually, Margery went "on-the-road" as a lounge entertainer. After a year, William joined her playing the drums. Marlene was married and Wilhelmina was in a Catholic boardi ng school in Covington KY. After a few years, William decided that was enough and William, Margery and Wilhelmina moved to Tucson, AZ. They owned and operat ed a sewing school and fabric store.This was during the sixies and William and Margery became "hippies" . The students loved it! Margery wore long dresses an d went barefooted, William had long hair tied back into a pony tail. He sold a nd repaired sewing machines. They sold the Bernina sewing machine which was th e best on the market! But he could repair any brand. They sold the store afte r ten years and moved to Mexico. They had spent every December traveling Mexico and loved the country. They traveled for years in a motor home and once Willi am's eyesight failed (macular degeneration) they settled in Tepic, Nayarit, Mex ico. William passed away there in 1990 and is buried there. William was an ex tremely talented man. 6 feet and a large build. He was a wonderful family man and there was nothing he couldn't do or fix. He had many many friends and con tinue to make new friends up until the day he passed away. He could whittle an d the last years of his life he whittled 3" to 4" wood crosses and gave them to people he met from around the world. He was very religious and live a very fu ll and exciting life! EXTRA_NOTES: Occupat

1. ↑ Mable Reese Rothgeb. Family Bible.
2. ↑ Wilhelmina Briggs (kish53@@aol.com). Wilhelmina (Rothgeb) Briggs email.