Wisconsin municipal attorney, Hartland indigenous Monthly bill Chapman dies
Table of Contents1 A prolonged occupation in Lake State2 A male who built bridges Bill
Table of Contents
Bill Chapman was nothing if not dedicated.
For in excess of 60 several years, the Hartland-elevated legal professional served many towns and towns throughout Lake Country, specializing in municipal law. He ongoing his practice until just a 12 months prior to he died on Could 19, age 90, at the Shorehaven Health Treatment Center.
That commitment lives on, in the form of a park, the Pabst Farms YMCA, Mt. Olympia, an incalculable amount of authorized assistance, and the a lot of good friends, household and strangers whose lives he altered for the superior.
“He set anything else in front of himself,” explained close friend and owner of Stapleton Realty, Maureen Stapleton. “He failed to just want it his way, he wished it so that it labored out for everyone concerned.”
A prolonged occupation in Lake State
Bill was born Sept. 8, 1930, to Herbert and Catherine Chapman. Raised in Hartland, Invoice Chapman joined the military services and served in the Korean War. He returned stateside and married his wife Joyce in 1952. With each other, they had three sons, one particular of whom died in infancy. Bill and Joyce remained married for 66 years until she died in 2018.
Chapman acquired his bachelor’s degree from Ripon College or university, in advance of attending law college at the College of Wisconsin-Madison. From that point on, he would reside and breathe municipal law, in some cases shelling out as substantially as 80 or 90 hours a week in the office environment.
According to Bob Hultquist, city chairman of Oconomowoc, Bill could cite legal statutes from memory. He never ever skipped an opportunity to pass together the awareness he’d accrued in excess of his long career.
“He was a wonderful legal professional,” Hultquist explained. “Pretty astute and extremely, really hardworking.”
However, it was Chapman’s fairness, his capacity to pay attention and bring people together that made him an successful lawyer.
“He was an extremely fair man or woman,” explained Susan Herro, whose father was Chapman’s law partner and who eventually practiced law herself in the identical business. “He wouldn’t acquire a side right before he knew each sides of the difficulty. When he did choose a side, he was a quite powerful advocate for regardless of what placement that was.”
Chapman served as the Oconomowoc municipal attorney for 38 several years, the City of Oconomowoc legal professional for 62 yrs and the Town of Merton municipal legal professional for 56 decades.
“It’s a exceptional man or woman who is adept at doling out parts of state wisdom together with sound authorized assistance and do each properly. Bill Chapman was 1 of people men and women,” reported Scott Peterson, a former reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel who normally sourced Chapman.
Chapman was also instrumental in the Lake Region Municipal Court method, the first joint court docket procedure to be designed in Wisconsin, and sponsored people through their immigration process. In 2000, Oconomowoc’s Chamber of Commerce awarded him Citizen of the Calendar year.
A male who built bridges
Even with an arduous do the job ethic, Chapman still knew how to have exciting, pals explained.
Stapleton stated just one of her favorite recollections of Chapman is him being the initially to ride a slide into the pool at the opening of the new local YMCA.
He also made time for his family members, good friends, ballroom dancing with his wife and his beloved Wisconsin sports activities.
“It was not just the Packers. It was Bucks’ online games, it was Brewers’ games,” claimed Jeff Schmidt, former Oconomowoc police officer and city council member. “If there was a way we could all be alongside one another, we would be, and observe the recreation and just love paying out time in 1 another’s corporation.”
Bill’s son and daughter-in-regulation, Jim and Krista Chapman, were far too shaken by the loss to remark, but did say the amount of guidance, condolences and delivers of aid have been mind-boggling. Due to the fact his death, they typically get much more cell phone phone calls than they can remedy about Bill, his daily life and impact.
“He was the person who would make bridges amongst get-togethers,” reported friend and former Oconomowoc city administrator, Diane Gard.
The month prior to he handed absent, various town of Merton officials visited Bill in hospice to current him with a unanimously-handed resolution honoring his service to the city.
“If the globe could be a portion of what Bill Chapman was, then this environment would be a better position,” Gard claimed.
A memorial for Chapman is scheduled for afterwards in June at Chapman Park in Oconomowoc, the park honoring his support to the metropolis.
Samantha Hendrickson can be reached at 414-223-5383 or [email protected]. Stick to her on Twitter at @samanthajhendr.
