William C. 'Bill' Widmer

William C. 'Bill' Widmer, 45, formerly of the Gardner-Edgerton, Kan. area, died Tuesday, March 7, 2000, at his rural home in Barnesville, Minn.

Burial was in the Shawnee Cemetery in Shawnee, Kan. Memorial contributions can be made to the American Heart Association or the Salem Lutheran Church in Lenexa, Kan.

Mr. Widmer was born Jan. 25, 1955, in Gardner, Kan., the son of Casper and Hester Prewitt Widmer. He married Vicki Berglund on Nov. 24, 1990, in Olathe, Kan. He grew up in Gardner-Edgerton, Kan., and was a 1973 graduate of Gardner-Edgerton High School. He lived in Parkville, Mo. for eight years before moving to Minnesota in 1997. He was a mechanic, maintenance engineer and welder for Nelson International and Amity Technologies in Fargo, N.D., for three years. He also had been a foreman for William A. Smith Contracting in Kansas City, Kan., while living in Parkville, Mo., and had worked for Swift Eckrich Co. in Kansas City, Mo., and the Dakota Railroad. He was a member of the Gloria Dei Church in Platte Woods, Mo.

Survivors include his wife of rural Barnesville, Minn.; two daughters, Amanda Haakenson of Kansas City, Mo., and Jennifer Widmer of Olathe, Kan.; his mother of Edgerton, Kan.; three sisters, Sharon Morgan of Edgerton, Kan., Diane Sawyer of Olathe, Kan., and Nancy Ballard of New London; two brothers, Robert Widmer of Kansas City, Mo., and Roger Widmer of Kansas City, Kan.; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his father.