David Lee Weizenicker

DAVID LEE WEIZENICKER passed on to eternal life on March 15, 2025 at his Clear Lake Condo home, with his daughters by his side. He was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease a few months ago.

David arrived on August 5, 1939, the first child of Leon and Florence Weizenicker, of German & Austrian descent. He was born in a private home, near downtown Tomahawk, assisted by a mid-wife.

He attended St. Mary’s Parochial School and graduated from Tomahawk High School in 1957. Then, encouraged by his high school advisor, Don Linteur, he attended Stevens Point College for three years. He then transferred to the University of Michigan for two years, including a required forestry summer camp, graduating in 1962 with a degree in Forestry.

Four days after graduation, he joined the Department of Natural Resources for, what became a 35+ year career, as a recreational forester, park ranger, land acquisition negotiator for park lands and superintendent of Wisconsin’s largest state park, Devil’s Lake, near Baraboo. In 1981, he was appointed Director of the Wisconsin State Park system, a position he held until his retirement.

In 1964, David married Joyce Herbert in Milwaukee. They were married for 57 years and adopted two infant girls. Joyce passed in 2022 from cancer.

Upon retirement in 1998, he and his wife, Joyce, moved to their vacation home on the Tomahawk River. They then moved to Rockport,Texas to spend easier winters and have time to travel. Over the next 20 years, they travelled to all seven continents, visited over 90 countries, were abroad more than 42 times and spent time in every state in the US, including Hawaii twice and Alaska three times.

In his working years, he was very active in volunteer activities, including serving on several city commissions for the city of Middleton and was a member of the downtown Madison Kiwanis club. He also served as Grand Knight for the Middleton Knights of Columbus, a retreat coordinator for the Jesuit Retreat House in Oshkosh, on the Middleton church council, as a religious educator, an Edgewood High School girls swim and track team parent and on the Clear Lake Condo Board.

While State Parks Director, he was very proud of his work facilitating the establishment of friends’ groups for state parks, formally organizing the establishment of a statewide “friends for state parks” in 1996. That effort has grown into the enhancement of state parks with millions of dollars of support funds and volunteer activities and projects. In addition, he and his management team were successful in building partnerships with the tourism industry and acquiring over 1,000 miles of railroad-rights-of-way for the state trails program.

Beginning in 2010, David & Joyce worked with the Natural Resources Foundation of Madison and established endowment funds for State Parks and the Tomahawk Public Library. Then, funds with the North Central Community Foundation for tuition support for St. Mary’s Parochial School in Tomahawk and one for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital for cancer research. A fund was also established with the Univ. of Michigan for tuition support at the college of Natural Resources.

In 2016, David was honored with the Distinguished Service Award by the National Association of State Park Directors for his work managing the state park system. In 2019, He received St. Mary’s School Alumni Spotlight recognition.

In 2023, David married Margaret Hayes, from Illinois and for many years a Lake Nokomis resident. Just recently, he and Margaret established an endowment with the Wausau Foundation for the Tomahawk Community Meal Program.

The Endowments in total exceed one million dollars of personal funds, with the market value ever higher. The funds have paid out nearly $200,000 to date. He and his family “discovered” that it was much more enjoyable and satisfying to give than it was to continue to accumulate.

David had many personal interests: birding, fishing, traveling, an avid reader, photography, doing power point presentations of trips and others. In later years, he became an accomplished cook and enjoyed trying new recipes taken off the internet. Above all, growing up and spending time at the family land in Oneida County, with roots going back to 1949, was his favorite place. His more memorable times were spent hiking, snowshoeing, hunting and in later years roaming around in his UTV. The camp was a personal place of peace and solitude, right up to the time of his passing.

Life was very good for David, with many blessings and adventures. Above all, God gave he and his first wife Joyce a wonderful life together and then God intervened again and brought Margaret into his life-too short but sweet nevertheless.

David wishes to thank all those, too numerous to mention, who have befriended him over the years. He had many good friends and that made life even more special.

David especially wanted to thank his two daughters, Jo Ann and Susan for their loving and attentive care of their mother and himself, for being close to them at their time of critical health and need. The end of life would have been much more painful without their presence. He was also thankful them for their niceties to their relatively new step-mother.

David was preceded in death by his wife, Joyce, his parents and his sister Jeanne Hinke; brother-in-law Bob Nelson. He is survived by his wife Margaret, two daughters, Jo Ann (Scott) Kuharske, Susan (Mike) Walton, two grandsons, Leopold and Raymond, his sister Judith  Nelson, his brother, Tom (Phyllis) Weizenicker, step-son John Hayes, step-daughters, Maureen Phillips and Mary Ellen Spadafore, numerous step-grandchildren and cousins, nephews and nieces.

A Memorial Service will be held at 11:00 a.m. at Grace Lutheran Church on April 12, 2025. Visitation will be held from 10:00 a.m. to time of service.

In lieu of flowers, David asks that donations be sent to the Tomahawk Community Meal Program at 320 E. Washington Avenue, Tomahawk, WI. Feel free to join this group on Tuesday’s at 4:00 from April to December for a great meal and social contacts.

Online condolences for the family may be expressed at www.nimsgernfuneral.com

Krueger-Nimsgern Funeral & Cremation Services is assisting the family