West Bend, WI – One of the few remaining godfathers of the community has died. Tony Spaeth Sr. passed Thursday, October 24, 2024. He was 84.
Spaeth was a 1958 graduate of WBE and a longtime alderman in the 1980s on the West Bend common council. He served alongside the likes of Joe Gates, Tom O’Meara, Hope Cross Nelson, Jim German, Glenn Goodearle, King Riffel, Bob Motl.and Terry Vrana.
During Tony’s term on the council Barb Barringer was clerk, Dennis Melvin was city administrator, Richard Yde and Karen Christianson were city attorney, Ken Pesch was city engineer and Spaeth served under both mayor Donald Gonring and Mike Miller.
Tony served during the era when pots and pans were made at the West Bend Company, Bob Fish was a locally owned car dealership, St. Joes’s Hospital was in town on Silverbrook and Oak and when Dick’s Pizza and the Binkery were popular gathering places.
He served when a train ran through the community, when George Prescott greeted customers at Prescott’s Pick n’ Save, when Betty Christian, Bob Bonenfant, and Steve Siegel were familiar voices on WBKV/WBWI on Indiana Avenue across from Pat’s Jiffy Stop, and when there was a fountain and a beautiful shade tree by an old gazebo on monkey island downtown.
Tony also served on the West Bend police department when it was at the corner of Hwy 33 and Seventh Avenue and Jim Skidmore was chief.
One of the sayings about Tony Spaeth, “he was kind to everyone.”
Feel free to share your memory about the how Tony Spaeth Sr. made a difference in the community of West Bend.
