Henry “Hank” Wilczek was born on September 18, 1950, in Chippewa Falls to Frank and Rose Wilczek. He was raised on a dairy farm in the rural areas of Withee with seven brothers and four sisters. His oldest sister at times would call him “Henry the 8th”. He hated milking cows but loved working the fields, especially plowing and chopping corn. He also enjoyed helping his dad do maintenance on farm machinery. He graduated from Owen- Withee High School, in 1968.
In October of 1968, Henry enlisted in the United States Air Force. He was stationed in Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Germany. After his four years of service, he was awarded a two year associate’s degree in Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Technology in the Spring of 1975. He married JoEllen Anderson in August of 1975. He also adopted her eight-year-old daughter who had the same name as her mother. They all three moved to Great Falls, Montana where he began employment with Johnson Controls. He worked there for 11 years.
In 1976, Henry joined the Montana Air National Guard and continued with his passion as an Aircraft Environmental Systems Technician for 19 years. In October 1977, the family was blessed with a baby boy named Michael. Then in September of 1982, Henry’s 32nd birthday, he was blessed with a baby girl named Julie. This was also the day “Big Stack” went down.
In the spring of 1986, Henry found employment at Malmstrom Air Force Base Civil Engineering HVAC Controls Shop. He really enjoyed working there. Every day was a new troubleshooting challenge. Hank always had a saying that if these systems were built by a human…then it can be fixed by a human! Hank worked in civil service for 27 years.
In October 1995, Hank and JoEllen were divorced. In June 2010, he married Mary Ball. Their marriage only lasted slightly over two years.
Hank retired in October 2013. He enjoyed downhill skiing, fishing, boating, water skiing, motorcycles, camping, trail riding with his ATVS and UTVS, day trips, cruises, bowling and fixing things for both family and friends. He often would say that he could fix anything except a broken heart. He very much enjoyed grilling out on the deck and relaxing almost every evening in the hot tub with a nice cold beer! He truly enjoyed his grandkids.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Frank and Rose, and brothers, Jerome, Patrick and Jimmy.
This was written by the Ole’ Goat “Hank” himself.
