William C. Eich

William (Bill) C. Eich was born to William Eich and Dorothy (Hofferber) Eich on October 11th, 1952 in Lincoln, NE and passed away March 20th, 2014 at Bryan East Hospital in Lincoln, NE at the age of 61 years, 5 months, and 9 days. He was one of 3 children in the family. Bill was baptized and confirmed in the United Methodist Church. He attended Strang Public School until the 8th grade, when he entered Geneva Public School. During that time he enjoyed playing baseball, football, basketball, and was on the track team. Bill was a 4 year member of the choir, and a 2 year member of the glee club. During high school, Bill was very active in 4-H and FFA, and graduated with the class of 1971. After high school graduation, Bill attended Curtis Ag School, in Curtis, NE. Bill worked on numerous feedlots and ranches across the entire Midwest where many lifelong friendships were started. On a couple of occasions, Bill would come back to the family farm to work alongside his parents. Bill also spent many years working at Ipsco, in Geneva. After the death of his mother, Bill returned to the family farm to raise horses and farm. He greatly enjoyed showing off his newest filly to anyone who stopped by. Bill was married to Susie Peterson of Rapid City, SD on February 14th, 1978; they were married for 7 years. Bill had a great love of animals. His dog, Lucy, was a very special part of his life, and he was very proud of her. Bill’s other great love was horses. Bill loved the fact that he could be known as a true cowboy. He was always on the hunt for the perfect cowboy scarf. He rode horses in the pens of the feedlots, and most recently purchased a buggy cart his gelding Pete, pulled; that gave him great pride. He followed the annual futurity competitions and knew the names of most of the race winners. Bill knew those people because of his wonderful talent of creating horse bits, and cinchas. Bill was well known in the horse world for his creations. The start of that business, allowed him to take his talent to competitions, in many states. Hunting was another great passion of Bill’s. He was well known for being an ace shot. He took many trips with his “hunting buddies” for all kinds of game. If you wanted to know the best type of coyote call, all you had to do was ask Bill. If you were lucky, he may have even given you one from his collection. He had a great knowledge of all types of guns and ammunition. He would attend gun shows across the state, and most recently would take ammunition to those shows that he had reloaded himself. He was a perfectionist, whether it was his bits, cinchas, or the reloaded ammo. It had to be done perfectly. Like most Nebraskans, Bill followed University of Nebraska athletics. He enjoyed the football and basketball teams, but his favorite sport to follow was women’s volleyball. He was always sure to have a team schedule, and would advertise game days to anyone he met! Often times he would sit in his truck listening to games on the radio, even if they were on television. Bill was preceded in death by his parents, William and Dorothy Eich and brother in law Dale Eberhart He is survived by sisters Barb Eberhart of Lincoln; Kelly Eich and husband Robert (Bob) Maloney of Tuscon, AZ; niece, Chelsea (Josh) Schauer of Lincoln and nephew, Matt (Katie) Eberhart of Lincoln, NE; great –nephews, and many family members and friends. Memorial services for Bill were conducted from Farmer and Son Funeral Home in Geneva, NE on Monday March 24th at 10:30 a.m. with Pastor Ron Harris officiating. Sondra Myers accompanied Delwin Myers, who sang “Just As I Am” and “The Old Rugged Cross.” Bill’s cremains were interred on his parent’s lot in the Geneva Public Cemetery. Memorials are directed to the United Methodist Church in Geneva and Fillmore County Hospital.

Tributes

William C. Eich

October 11, 1952 - March 20, 2014