website  watertownhistory.org

    ebook  History of Watertown, Wisconsin

 

Byron F. Wackett

1912 - 1980

Byron Wackett Dies Today

05 17 1980

 

Byron F. Wackett, 68, 100 Oak Hill Court, a 24-year member of the state legislature and former mayor of Watertown, died early this morning at Watertown Memorial Hospital following a brief illness.

 

Funeral services will be Tuesday, at 2 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church with Rev. Walter Schumann officiating.  Burial will be in Oak Hill cemetery.

 

Friends and relatives may call to pay their respects at the Pederson Funeral Home Monday from 4 until 9 p.m. and on Tuesday until 11 a.m.  The body will lie in state at the church Tuesday from noon until the time of services.  Memorials, if desired, may be given to Trinity Lutheran School.

 

Wackett was born March 21, 1912, at Randolph.  He operated Wackett's Standard Oil Service Station, 316 West Main Street, for 45 years, retiring in 1975.

 

He married the former Elda V. Kieck July 24, 1931, in Oconomowoc.

 

Surviving are his wife.

 

The local Republican held the 39th District Assembly seat since 1953. At the time he announced his retirement in 1976 (his term ran until January of 1977), he had served the Assembly longer than any other Republican in this century and ranked third in seniority among GOP members in the state's history.

 

Wackett served as mayor of Watertown for two terms, from 1946-49, when the office was abolished by the city manager form of government.  He was defeated in 1950 in his first bid for a legislative seat, but was elected to the post two years later.

 

During his 24 years in the legislature, Wackett served six terms on the powerful Joint Committee on Finance, including two terms as its chairman, the last time the Republicans held the majority status in the Assembly.  During his last six years in office, he was the ranking minority member on the committee.

 

Wackett was also chairman of the state Veterans Affairs Committee and had served on the State Board on Government Operations and on the Assembly's committees on engrossed bills, printing, state affairs and municipalities.  He was also a member of the legislative council's special advisory committees on finance, state programs, public welfare, University of Wisconsin Medical Center, taxation, water resources and the reactivation of Camp McCoy.

 

He also served on the special legislative council committee on lobbying laws in recognition of the fact that he was one of only a few incumbent legislators in Wisconsin who refused to accept interest group contributes toward their re-election efforts in 1974.

 

Wackett had also been active in large number of civic groups and projects.  He was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church and had served on the church council.  He was past president of the Watertown Historical Society and of the Wisconsin Association of Retail Petroleum Dealers.  He was presently serving on the city's zoning board of appeals and was a director of the Hill Cemetery Board.

 

He was also a member of the local Lions and Wethonkitha clubs.

 

lda V. Wackett

1911 - 2006

 

Elda Veronica Wackett, 95, of Watertown, died June 25, 2006, at Countryside Home in Jefferson following a brief illness.  Funeral services will be held Friday at 2 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church in Watertown with the Rev. Brett Brauer officiating.

 

Burial will be in the Oak Hill cemetery in Watertown.

 

She was born June 23, 1911, in the town of Concord, the daughter of Edward and Lizetta (Rohloff) Kieck.  She married Byron F. Wackett on July 24, 1931, in Oconomowoc.  She was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church of Watertown.

 

Survivors include one son, Robert (Marialyce) Wackett of Watertown; 10 grandchildren, Michael (Brenda) Wackett, Waterloo, Ill., Richard Wackett of Sun Prairie, James Wackett of Limestone, Maine,  Toni Novak of Abbotsford, Linda (Andrew) Gee of Watertown, Debra (Michael) Powers of Washburn, Kirk  (Kathi) Wackettof  Watertown, Patricia Wackett  of Watertown, Susan Wackeft of La Crosse, Aimee (Robert) Adams of Watertown; one brother-in-law,  Lester (Agnes) Wackett of Beaver Dam; nieces; nephews; other relatives and friends.

 

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband on May 17, 1980, and one sister.

 

Pederson Funeral Home 213 S. Fifth St. Watertown

 

 

 

Table of Contents 

History of Watertown, Wisconsin

Index