WALICKI, Gene T., age 66

Died: Sunday, December 15th, 2013

Visitation: 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Thursday at the funeral home

Memorial Service: 10:00 a.m. on Friday, December 20, 2013 at the funeral home with Reverend Robert Hoekstra officiating

Interment: Prairie View Cemetery, Lake Hallie, Wisconsin

Gene Theodore Walicki, 66 years old, died on Sunday, December 15, 2013 at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire after a courageous ten-year battle with lymphoma. A wonderful husband, father, grandfather and friend, he was surrounded by loved ones at the time of his passing.

Gene was born to Edward and Cecelia (Kowalczyk) Walicki on June 17, 1947 in Ladysmith, Wisconsin. He graduated from Weyerhauser High School in 1965, after which he worked for Land O Lakes in Minneapolis. He drove a milk truck briefly before becoming an over the road trucker for 5 years, driving throughout the United States, Central America, and Canada, sometimes carrying special government contract freight, or oversized loads over the Alaska-Canadian highway. Gene was the Vice President and General Manager of the Eau Claire branch of the Tolona Pizza Corporation for 14 years, where he designed and oversaw a complex conveyer and oven system for manufacturing pizza crust. The company patented several of his designs and innovations. Gene finished his working career as a receiving manager for the Eau Claire Menards Main Distribution Center, where he worked for almost 20 years before his retirement.

Gene was appreciated by family and friends as a tinkerer and shade tree mechanic. He was our handy man; he could fix or build anything you would need or want, and occasionally things that you neither needed nor wanted. Possessing a natural and intuitive talent for all things mechanical, if the part didn't fit, he would make it fit or he would make a part from something else to solve the problem! His son once said that you give him a toothpick and send him into the woods and he could build a shopping mall. In his later years, Gene used his love and talent for tinkering to beautifully restore numerous antique tractors. This passion was only limited by the available shed or garage space at his home in Lake Hallie, or the neighbor's patience from the noise he might make.

He was well known for deer hunting, one of the great passions of his life. Despite his best effort over more than five decades of never missing a season, he was preceded by numerous monster bucks that died of natural causes instead of lead poisoning. Gene also greatly loved his boat and fishing with his wife and family. We have many memories of Gene catching fish sticks (trees). He enjoyed doing puzzles in the cold of winter, gardening in the summer, and was a loyal Packers fan.

Gene is survived by his wife, Linda, with whom he celebrated their 20^th Anniversary on December 4; his three sons, Theodore and Nathaniel of Eau Claire, and Shawn (Samantha) of Maryland; step-son and step-daughters, Daniel Palmer of Chippewa Falls, Angela (Jim) Seichter and Kandace (Tim) Lange of Eau Claire; and seven grandchildren, Laken and Truman Walicki of Greenwood, Stella and Ariana Walicki of Maryland, and Wyatt Seichter, Paige Seichter and Hunter Lange of Eau Claire. He is also survived by three sisters and one brother, Tina (Alex) Sieja of Weyerhauser, Doris Traaholt of Ashland, and Barbara (Jerome) Romanowski of Blair, and Warren Walicki of Chippewa Falls; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, in-laws, and a great many friends.

Gene was preceded in death by his parents; his beloved older brother, Casper Walicki of Weyerhauser; and an infant sister.

A special thanks to Dr. Sandeep Basu, all other supporting doctors, nurses and staff at the Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire for their patient and thoughtful care through the years.