William Charles "Bill" Therkelsen, 93, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, died peacefully on August 20, 2024. Bill was born in Des Moines, Iowa on October 15, 1930 to Eugene Therkelsen and Irene (Lorenz) Therkelsen. He was a devoted older brother to his only sibling, Karen, who was born when "Billy" was eight.

Even as a child in Des Moines, Bill loved tinkering—taking things apart to see how they worked—so it was no surprise that his lifelong career was electronics engineer. Bill could fix or build or rig up just about anything. After graduating from Des Moines Technical High School, Bill joined the U.S. Navy, serving at a base in Key West, Florida for most of his service (1951-1953). While there, a supply mission to Cuba sparked his interest in traveling. His service also got him interested in aeronautics, and in 1960 he took flying lessons. A guy as far-sighted as Bill was never going to be a professional pilot, but he did soar among the clouds, nevertheless. Bill did always have a good eye for pictures, and one of his legacies was a vast collection of family photos through the years, which he handed down to his kids. He taught himself basic PhotoShop so that he could digitize old slides and historic photos. Bill's movies and videos of vacations and family events were legendary.

When he concluded his naval service, Bill returned home to Des Moines, got married to Alice Payne, and family life began. In 1953 Bill began working at Collins Radio in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In 1962 he took a job at Magnavox in Fort Wayne, Indiana and lived in the Fort Wayne area for the rest of his life. He took his skills as a test equipment design manager and production engineer to other firms, and he retired in 1991 from ITT.

In 1966 Bill married Barbara Kettering Muffley and his family grew once again. Bill was married for the last time to Janeth Rose Young of Huntington, Indiana in 1988. Over the years, the couple enjoyed their vast, blended family.

From the 1940's onward, Bill's parents took him and his sister to resorts in Minnesota, primarily to Lake Kabetogama, where the family fished, swam, and enjoyed lake life. Those memories spurred Bill's desire to own a lake resort of his own. That dream was finally realized in 1992 when he and Jan settled into their cabin on Bloom Lake in Itasca County, Minnesota. Being the engineer he was, Bill couldn't help but make improvements. As it was, the cabin had no running water or electricity, so Bill designed a solar-powered system for powering small electrical appliances and lights, and before he eventually had a well dug, he rigged up a pump and water filtration system to use lake water for showers and laundry. With help from family and friends, his designs came to life, and hand-drawn blueprints became a water tower, a new shower house, a new outhouse, a new porch, and more. While Bill was a twentieth-century man, he could easily have excelled alongside his pioneer grandfather Jens Peter Therkelsen, a Danish immigrant, who came to America in 1871 and built a modest family empire in Lakeview, Iowa.

The Bloom Lake cabin in Minnesota, christened "Near Wild Heaven" by his eldest daughter (from the title of a favorite song), became the place of countless family vacations and reunions, and this vacation home was where Bill's heart was. From picking raspberries with grandchildren, to taking them tubing on the lake, to trips to the headwaters of the Mississippi River at Lake Itasca, Bill was never happier than when his family gathered around him. If Bill was spiritual at all, it was in those perfect moments when he took someone out on the lake in his fishing boat "Old Fart" or taught someone to bait a hook for the first time or showed them how to cast their line out into the early morning water.

When personal computers first appeared, Bill, who had built radios and designed circuitry for complex systems at Magnavox and ITT thought nothing of the challenge of building his own computer. Before long, he dabbled in HTML and built a webpage at a time when most people hadn't even heard of a webpage. Then later he began a blog called "Northern Lights," where he first shared his life stories. Most of these stories were later collected in his memoir, Eugene's Boy: A Life Remembered.

Whether for work or for leisure, Bill saw a lot of the world—Egypt and Greece—as well as Germany, where his mother's family came from and Denmark, his father's ancestral homeland. After he retired, Bill and Jan traversed the United States and parts of Canada with their bus friends, the Land Cruise travel group.

Bill had a great sense of humor, and he especially enjoyed kidding around and being goofy with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. When he moved to the Five Star community in Fort Wayne, Bill was known by his neighbors for emailing daily jokes, primarily about the humorous pitfalls of aging. One of his favorite jokes to share was a definition for engineer: "A person who solves problems that you didn't know existed, in ways you do not understand. See also genius."

Bill is survived by his wife Janeth Rose Therkelsen and his children Dawn (Michael Hogue), Phillip (Kathy Gotto), Jennifer Olson (Craig George), stepdaughter Sherry Muffley, David, and Kelly (Don Mocker); by his grandchildren Kevin (Kim) Hogue, Laura (Lucas) Hartlep, Jillian (Tyler) Vandegrift, Jeremiah Therkelsen, Heather (Jason) Johnston, Matthew George, Morgan (Austin) Stewart, and Jasper Therkelsen; niece Wendy Boosalis Vance, nephew Jim Tyler, brother-in-law, David Tyler; cousins Bette Kasad and Sally Goss; granddaughter-in-law Shana Hogue.

Jan's sons Bob (Susie Moats), Brian, Barry (Cheri), Brent (Janis), Brad (Amy) and Bill Young considered Bill their adopted dad, and their children called him Grandpa: Jennifer, Tyler, Ryan; Lyndsay, Andrew; Camarie, Ciera, Carissa, Kendall, Erica, Claire, Josh, Caraghan, Shawn, Samantha, Cassie, Jordan, Ashlyn, Carly, and Callie. Josh Heckelsmiller, Alex Kolhs, Drew Kohls, Trevor Kohls, Skylar Millington, Garrett Closson.

His cherished great-grandchildren: Olivia, Shelby, and Ian Hartlep; Ella and Mya Hogue; Tryne and Maisie Vandegrift; Kourtnee, Connor, and Jacksen Johnston; Henry Stewart; and stepgreat-grandkids: Alexia, Mason, Maddie, Carson, Dakota, Chase, Jackson, Alita, Gwen, Tryson, Lilly, Luca, Callie, Evangeline, Remington, James Anderson, Emerson, and Lilly.

Bill's parents Eugene and Irene preceded him in death, as did his beloved sister Karen Ann Tyler and daughter Candace Sue Hudgins. His grandparents and many aunts, uncles, and cousins also passed away before him.

A celebration of his life with friends and family will be held on September 8, 2024 from 1-4 p.m. at Ceruti's, 6601 Innovation Drive Fort Wayne. In lieu of flowers, those who wish to honor Bill's life in a lasting way can do so by going to the Arbor Day Foundation to plant trees in his name. Cash memorials will be donated to the American Cancer Society in honor of Bill's sister Karen Therkelsen Tyler.

The family wishes to thank everyone at Sage Bluff, Five Star Residences, and Paradigm Health for their compassionate care during Bill's last few weeks.

Bill lived a long life, and he was grateful for his good fortune. As he wrote in his memoir, "Yes, it's been a good life, and it's been fun, most of the time…. All I know is that we can never know what lies beyond today. We can only live now." To all who knew and loved him, may his memory be a blessing.