August 8, 2019 – West Bend, WI – Tim Boppre was born in Milwaukee on February 12, 1963 to Richard and Barbara (nee O’Halloran) Boppre, but spent most of his life in Washington County. On August 6 he was born to eternal life after an 18 month battle with illness leading to a diagnosis of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma the last 8 months of that illness. He is a 1981 graduate of West Bend East High School.
Tim began his engineering career as an intern and once he earned his Electrical Engineering degree from Marquette University he became employed as a start- up Engineer in the drives division of Allen Bradley. Tim traveled throughout the States and abroad to integrate Allen Bradley products into manufacturing settings.
Tim transitioned to Square D Company, Milwaukee in 1987 as an Application Engineer. Tim’s passion for technical excellence, along with his thoroughness and no-nonsense ability to break-down problems made him a favorite with both customers and coworkers alike. He was a trusted and dependable member of his teams. Many of the friendships he forged while at Square D continued throughout his life.
In addition to work, Tim’s passion for the outdoors made him the logical expert to go to for questions about cameras, hiking, mountain biking or anything scouting.
Tim then joined a small software company named ICOM in West Allis around 1991. Tim quickly began to build close and lasting friendships with the many people he worked with. Through various roles at ICOM, Tim built a strong reputation with his peers as an accomplished engineer and an ideal mentor.
In late 1994, ICOM was acquired by Rockwell Automation and Tim worked across the business and continued to lead by example and naturally began to assume more leadership roles. The software group eventually moved to the Rockwell Automation / Allen-Bradley Clock Tower in 2004 where Tim was the Software Manager for the now larger Milwaukee campus. Tim continued to build on his reputation of determination and integrity and further developed a strong, close-knit culture with his engineering team.
Late in his career, Tim developed a passion for patent law. Tim worked hard to pass the United States Patent and Trademark Office Patent Bar which made him a Patent Agent. In 2014, he transitioned to a corporate Patent Engineering role for Rockwell. Tim really enjoyed the technical work and the new people he worked with daily to file technical patents for new products and technologies across Rockwell. Additionally, due to the nature of the work, he continued to collaborate closely with many people from his original software team, which was a blessing for all involved.
Tim was an Eagle Scout and exemplified all the attributes of that honor. He instilled those values into his sons as he encouraged them and many other scouts to the rank of Eagle Scout in Troop 836 in Cedarburg
He was an Amateur Radio Operator enthusiast having obtained his license at the age of 16 inspired by his Great Uncle who trained the radio operators in WWII. Tim also was a Bluegrass music enthusiast. He taught himself to play the banjo as his first choice as well as guitar, mandolin, and dobro. He was the kind of Renaissance man who not only played but repaired instruments and built his own banjo enjoying the detailed pearl inlay work on his instrument. These adventures are chronicled on his blog at Outbackofbeyond.wordpress.com
Tim married his college sweetheart, Dawn Kramer, introduced by his sister Chris, a fellow student at Mount Mary College. Tim and Dawn celebrated 31 years of marriage experiencing all the blessings of marriage and the steadfastness of commitment to each other. The Word of God became a very important part of their lives shortly before having their children and it was their faith in the Savior that has sustained them through the lymphoma diagnosis and journey which is chronicled on Tim’s caring bridge at www.caringbridge.org/visit/timboppre.
Those Tim leaves behind include his loving wife Dawn; their children Danielle (Ryan) Nowakowski, Dominic and Benjamin; his parents Richard and Barbara; 2 sisters Christine (Tim) Simenson and Peggy (Tim) Martin; other relatives and many dear friends.
A journal entry from Tim dated 8-14-10: “I’m a walking model of Romans 7:15. My longing is to rest at the feet of my Savior for eternity free at last from sin. If that is all eternity is, it will be more than enough”.
The Schmidt Funeral Home of Jackson is serving the family.
Dear Family and Friends,
The children and I have made the arrangements according to Tim’s wishes. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, we will commend Tim’s “earthly tent” to the ground Saturday, August 10 in Evergreen Cemetery, at 2221 Michigan Avenue in Manitowoc at 10 a.m. We will gather in the cemetery office parking lot at 9:45 and be directed further. Please dress comfortably. We will share entries from Tim’s journal about his faith walk at the burial site.
We will proceed to Port Sandy Bay at 6421 County Road O#2 in Two Rivers. This is where Tim and I would go for pizza on camping set up day. Everyone is encouraged to join us, support us, help us in our loss by your presence.
Some three weeks or so later we hope to rent the Daniel Boone club and focus on a celebration of Tim’s life. Stay tuned for that information.
Any financial memorials may be given to the ministry that has helped us to grow in our Christian faith, WVCY America (107.7 and channel 30) at 3434 West Kilbourne Avenue Milwaukee WI 53208 or the Caring Bridge.
Sincerely,
Dawn and family
