William "Billy" James Colvin

Service Details

A service honoring Bill will take place on Thursday, June 20, 2019, 2:00pm, at Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery, 21731 Spring Street, Union Grove.  The celebration of his life will be held at Infusino’s Banquet Hall following the cemetery service.  In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Vince Lombardi’s Cancer Foundation.

Racine – William “Billy” Colvin, 78, passed away at Ascension-All Saints on Wednesday, June 12, 2019, after a short battle with late stage Liver Cancer.

Bill was born in Menominee, Michigan, on April 21, 1941, to the late Jack and Jane (nee: Doran) Colvin. He was raised and grew up in Marinette, WI, graduating in 1959 from The First Class Catholic Central High School.  Bill then enlisted in the United States Army from 1959 to 1962 and served in such places as Okinawa and others as an administrative clerk.

In or around 1963, Bill moved to Racine, WI, and was joined in marriage on June 17, 1965, to Janice Garner at Emmanuel Episcopal Church. On November 25, 1975, their pride and joy, Geoffrey, was born.  Geoffrey passed away at age 34 due to cancer.

Bill was employed at Case Company, then many years with Massey Ferguson, Cherry Electric, and onto Racine Federated (now Badger Meter) as an Assembler, retiring in 2017.

Bill was always an avid sports fan, but his true love was the Green Bay Packers.  In 1994 he began to work for his friend Mike of Famous Faces.  They travelled locally and regionally to do signings, fundraisers, appearances, and offering memorabilia with many Packer players and other sports teams and players.   To this day, Bill remained tight with some Packers such as Jerry Kramer, Gilbert Brown, Dave Robinson, Will Henderson and was known to them only as the “Colonel”.  He was also a very competitive cribbage player that won several tournaments.  Of late, you could catch Billy at his favorite local hang outs like JQ Foxes, Boiler Room, or Joey’s West enjoying the company of friends while watching a game, pulling “crack” cards, playing machines, sharing stories, or just for a few laughs.

Bill is survived by Janice (Garner) Colvin of Cordova, TN, who remains a friend; brother, Richard  Colvin of Athelstane, WI; dear nieces, Cindy DeRose and Kristy Dedrich of Racine, Ellen Cote of Tucson, AZ; nephews, Randy Sharkey of Racine and Mike Henrichs of Porterfield, WI; several cousins, and some of the most important people in Billy’s life…his friends, too numerous to mention.

In addition to his parents and his son, Bill was preceded in death by sister-in-law, Linnea Colvin.

A service honoring Bill will take place on Thursday, June 20, 2019, 2:00pm, at Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery, 21731 Spring Street, Union Grove.  The celebration of his life will be held at Infusino’s Banquet Hall following the cemetery service.  In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Vince Lombardi’s Cancer Foundation.