William D. Klousie

William ""Bill"" D. Klousie, born 57 years ago on August 31, 1953, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, January 25, 2011, with his wife at his side. Bill was preceded in death by his parents C. Warren Klousie, Henrietta Harper (Kypke) and his brother Michael Klousie. He is survived by his best friend, lover and wife, Terri, his children, Marissa Wolfe, Sabrina Bodden, Brad Erickson, Brandon Erickson, his brother, David Klousie, his sisters, Tina (Ed) Root, Karen (Steve) Franklin, Krista (Damon) Unbehaun, and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts and uncles.   Bill had a passion for life and treasured his music, enjoyed creating stained glass art work, exploring philosophy with strangers and lovingly tending his plants. He spent the majority of his adult life doing consulting and design engineering, or as Bill would say, ""Turning other people's dreams into reality."" He graduated from U.W. Madison in December 2009. In his years on campus, he became affectionately known as ""The Segway Guy,"" and even acquired status on Madison Lists, ""Famous State Street Characters.""  See also: http://www.citydictionary.com/WI/Madison/Segway-Guy/3199/   Bill was capable of a great many things, and finally put his love of philosophy and music together by forming a band in 1990 with some friends which was called ""OSM"" and generally stood for ""Old Skinny Men"".   Bill wrote, co-wrote and sang on many of the songs on the two-disc release titled:   ""Totally for Sale"".   Bill also practiced comedy on unsuspecting audiences over the years as well, with his original brand of wit and sarcasm.   He also wrote several novels and an adult picture book of African wildlife set to Dr Seuss style limericks which convey his view of the world and man's place in it.   Hopefully it will soon be available for those who wish to have a special keepsake of this incredible friend; now that Bill can no longer say it is not good enough for release.   Bill seemed to live life by his own set of rules, and became a published academic scholar as an undergrad at the UW, while working with Prof. Warren Porter, who took Bill under his wing and utilized his intellect and thirst for knowledge.   Bill eventually went to Africa to present their findings, and not surprisingly, while in Nairobi he embraced the opportunity to party with air marshals from Sweden.   He walked away from partially completed well paying projects because he determined the person or people he was working for were (as Bill put it), ""dumber than a fence post"".   He did not walk away without first voicing his opinion in front of their employees or anyone else who happened to be there at the time.   To our knowledge he is the only person ever to be arrested, taken to jail, thrown in the hole, removed from the hole, thrown back into the hole, removed from the hole and sent home-all within four hours!   He defied his illness and outlived all projections and expectations made by the vast number of health professionals who came to know him and attempt to treat him.   He lived all his final days at home, under his own control and apart from any form of incarceration.   He enjoyed his cigarettes, rum & coke and organic forms of pain medication right up to end, and joked about his condition and plight the entire time.   He supplied the world with brand new death jokes, and started a dead weight pool to see how long the professionals and friends thought he had left.     On Sunday, January 23, as an alternative to a traditional funeral, Bill assembled his family and friends together for a festive ""Good-bye"" gathering. It was a time of sharing memories, a time of bittersweet laughter (as Bill wanted it) and as expected, a time of tearful good-byes. Bill will be greatly missed by his family, friends and all those he touched throughout his life.   There will be an additional celebration of Bill's life in late July. The date and details will be announced as plans develop.   On behalf of Bill, his family extends their sincere gratitude to Hospice for the care and lively conversation that was provided for Bill in the past year, especially from Deb the Chaplin who was challenged in her beliefs in every way imaginable by Mr. Klousie.   It was impossible to get to know Bill and not be touched or stretched in many ways.   Rest in peace, Bill. We will hold you dearly in our hearts forever, no matter how many times you insisted this grumpy old man would not be missed.