Hi! My name is Bill Wandsnider.

I don’t have an exotic resume. I was born on the west side of town, my office and facility is there and I have lived in Fox Point for the last 25 years. We are currently building a new house in Mequon.

In my occupation the primary piece I hang my hat onto is the landscape design/build firm that I own and have operated for over 35 years. I have been in Rotary nearly that long. Along with the landscape business I own a storage business and a landscape waste recycling business in which one of our products is landscape mulch.

I have two wonderful daughters that are out in the world. Joan is the wonderful woman I am spending my life with after the passing of my wife.

I love to travel and have gone to South America many times even though I don’t speak Spanish. Joan and I just got back from a trip to the Argentinian Patagonia. It’s a long haul to the tip of South America!

I quite enjoy reading about history and I like to get a grasp on the foundation of how things began. I am currently reading a science related book and a book by Doris Kerns Goodwin dissecting the lives of Lincoln, Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt and Johnson.

I like active sports of biking, kayaking and x-c skiing. Learning to roll my kayak was a big accomplishment!

While I have participated in Rotary at different times to a greater and lesser degree, the people I have met and the friendships I have made have been an important part of my life.

By Jeff Rumage, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Two retail buildings and two large apartment buildings could be coming to the mostly vacant property surrounding the Walgreens at the southeastern corner of Main Street and Friestadt Road in Thiensville.

The project, known as Hawthorne Square, would be developed by sisters Trish Ullrich and Maggie Beach, the owners of NexJenn Real Estate. Their experience is primarily in real estate management; this would be their first development project.

The two, three-story apartment buildings include a 36-unit apartment building just east of the Walgreens near Freistadt Road, and just south of there, a 48-unit apartment building on the southeast corner of the lot.

Sunrise Rotary Club’s Board has pledged a donation of $15,000 ($5000 per year over three years) to support construction of the new Landmark Promenade which will be built later this year to mark the heart of the Mequon-Thiensville Community.  A number of individual Rotarians have indicated they would like more information about making personal donations to the M-T Community Promenade project as well. 

Rotarians from Mequon & Thiensville Rotary Clubs have been actively working to make the Town Center and River Walk projects reality since 2002. As a capstone landmark for this area we have been active in the planning and now fundraising for the Mequon-Thiensville Community Promenade on the north east corner of Mequon and Cedarburg Roads.