William John Bucholz, CWO-3, USN, Ret., age 88, died Wednesday, June 13, 2018, at his home in Front Royal, Virginia.
Funeral services will be held on Saturday, June 23, at 3:00 p.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Front Royal conducted by Bishop Randall Bartlett. Interment will follow at Shenandoah Memorial Park with military honors.
William John Bucholz was born May 2, 1930, in Morton, Minnesota, son of the late Otto August Bucholz and Alice Amelia Jones Sweesy. He was a member of the Lower Sioux Indian Community of Minnesota (Mdewakanton Tribe). He was married to the late Beverly Getchell Watts Bucholz.
CWO Bucholz was a retired Navy veteran, having served during both the Korean and Vietnam Wars. He was a submariner and submarine sonar operator. He also held a law degree having attended the New England School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts.
He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Toastmasters, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He was a member of the original “leather heads” in football with the University of Minnesota. He loved golfing, fishing, crossword puzzles, sudoku, and was a carpenter who built his own house. Above all, he was a loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.
Surviving are three children Kimberly Barkley of Chantilly and her husband David, William John
Bucholz, II of Franklin, Minnesota and his wife Lori, and Heather Bates of Front Royal and her husband Michael; three brothers Roger Bucholz of Arlington, Kenneth Sweesy of Minnesota, and Vernon Sweesy of Minnesota; 13 grandchildren Erin Ford, Nicholai Bucholz, Charles Bucholz, Susan Bucholz, Brian Bucholz, Emma Bucholz, Alexander Meade, Amanda Bates, Elizabeth Carr, Sara Bates, Colton Bates, Hannah Bates, and Michaela Bates; and four great-grandchildren Alexa Bucholz, Jordan Katherman, Christian Bucholz, and Ellie Carr.
Honorary pallbearers will be William John Bucholz, II, Nicholai Bucholz, Charles Bucholz, Brian Bucholz, Michael David Bates, Alexander Meade, Colton Bates, David Barkley, Jacob Carr, and Kevin Ford.
The family will receive friends on Friday, June 22, at Maddox Funeral Home from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
The family of CWO Bucholz has lost a great patriarch and his leadership and mentorship will be deeply missed.