Winnebago County, Menasha lose two good friends

The start of a new year always offers hope for new beginnings. Unfortunately for residents of Winnebago County, especially those living in County Supervisory District 1 (Menasha), the new year has started out by bringing sadness and loss.

Winnebago County Board Supervisor Forrest “Woody” Weber and his beloved wife, Dale, were tragically killed about 6:15 p.m. New Year’s Eve in a car accident in Missouri while on their way back home to Menasha.

According to this report in the Post Crescent the couple had been in Texas, then stopped to visit friends in Kansas. They left Kansas Sunday morning with plans to get back home in time to attend Tuesday night’s Menasha Common Council meeting, at which they were planning to lobby for the continued televising of council meetings (a contract renewal is said to be being debated). Openness in government was something they always felt very strongly about and televised meetings was a technology “Woody” had pushed for for a number of years. He felt it was extremely important for people who couldn't attend city meetings to at least be able to see them and know what was going on in their government.

In addition to serving as a Winnebago County Board supervisor since 2004 – having just won re-election this past April – “Woody” served on the following county committees: the Advocap Board, the East Wisconsin Counties Railroad Consortium, the Scholarship Committee (vice chair) and the Park View Health Center Committee. It was in the latter capacity that “Woody” made a few appearances on “Eye on Oshkosh.” He was absolutely committed to a new nursing home and I’m sure was happy to at least have seen the ground-breaking get underway a few months earlier.

But “Woody” was serving citizens and his community long before being elected to the county board. He served on the Menasha Common Council (Aldermanic Dist. 4) for 24 years, four of which he was president of the council. Prior to that “Woody” served eight years on the school board and was, in fact, a retired schoolteacher. If all those years of public service weren’t enough, “Woody” was active, along with Dale, in the Winnebago County Democratic Party, and served as the leader of the party for several years. But it was as a member of the Common Council that I first came to meet, know and love “Woody.”

When I began covering Neenah/Menasha politics in January 2000, “Woody” was one of the first allies I made. It always takes a little bit of time to get up to speed when covering a new beat, especially when you're unfamiliar with the lay of the political land. But being the teacher that he always was, "Woody" patiently took whatever time was necessary to help me understand the issues the Common Council - and in later years, the County Board - were facing.

As an alderman and county board supervisor, he was always devoted to doing his homework, immersing himself in every issue he was expected to vote on and never backing away from asking difficult questions, even if they made some people uncomfortable. Rare as it is in politics today, “Woody” didn’t believe in playing politics just because he was in politics. He was always honest and completely forthcoming with information he felt the public needed to know. In fact, he was so passionate about keeping his constituents informed about issues affecting them that he regularly wrote, personally paid for and distributed a newsletter to them for as many of his years in public office as I can recall. It was one of the things of which he was extremely proud.

But "Woody" had many reasons for which he could be proud. Among them was his ability to disagree whole-heartedly with someone about an issue, yet never speak ill of that person for his or her beliefs. In all the conversations he and I enjoyed throughout the years, I never heard him speak in a mean-spirited or malicious way about anyone, even if speaking about a political rival. More than anything, he was just a sweet man who loved his family, friends, life and giving to his community.

And Dale was just as sweet and committed. She was not as much in the political spotlight as “Woody,” but, like her husband, she did not back down from things she felt passionately about. She served her community as a poll worker and poll site coordinator. She also served on the Menasha Police and Fire Commission and when the Menasha Fire Department was merged with the Neenah Fire Department in 2003 to become the Neenah-Menasha Fire Rescue, Dale became a veteran member of the Joint Fire Commission.

Their untimely departure from our midst will be felt for a long time, not only by family and friends, but by the community they so deeply loved and tirelessly and unselfishly served.

Rest in peace, “Woody” and Dale. You will always be loved, and forever missed by all of us whose lives you touched.