William Mader
1920 –
William was born on August 27, 1920 to Dominick Jr. and Edith Mader. Recollecting boyhood days, Bill said: “We got two pennies every Saturday and we went to Stryemaders on 16th and Jackson St. to spend it there. In the store it always took as half an hour to decide how to make the pennies go farther.”
“We were about the only Maders who weren’t Catholic and whenever I went over to the cousins on 1402 So. 13th St. near the church, the Priest was always after me saying, “I’ll get you sooner or later!” even in later years, long after my sister and brother rejoined the church, Monsignor Plecity still kidded me, “I got two out of three.”
Bill spent some of his childhood on the farm. After his marriage to Katherine Erickson, Bill returned to the farm to help his father and uncle run it. Bill and Kathy set up housekeeping in a big two-story brick house below the farm near the old race track. (The brick house no longer stands.) They became parents of two children, Sherry and Dennis.
Bill drove a city bus for some time before he worked for the Highway Dept. in West Salem. He and his wife Kathy are living in the home they built on 2119 Redfield St. in La Crosse.
- Sherry Mader was born in 1945 and has a doctorate degree. She married Gary Sackett and they reside in La Crosse. Sherry and Gary are raising his three children from a previous marriage and also their son Jon.
- Jon Sackett was born in 1982.
- Dennis Mader was born in 1950. Dennis is not married. He is employed at Heileman’s Brewery in La Crosse.