Willard C. Otto

Willard C. Otto, 90, of La Crosse, died on Tuesday, January 23, 2018 at Bethany Riverside Care Center. He was born February 9, 1927 at his grandmother’s house in La Crosse to Frank and Olga (Blank) Otto. Willard grew up on the family farm on South Ridge, MN. At the age of 18 he moved to La Crosse and worked for Hammes Truck Sales as a mechanic. While working at Hammes, he met Dorothy Schmeckpeper and they were married on September 10, 1949 at Mt. Calvary Ev. Lutheran Church. Willard began working at Trane Company in 1955, and worked there until his retirement in 1989. Willard was known as “Doc” because he could fix anything. He and Dorothy enjoyed wintering in the Florida Keys for many years.

He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Dorothy; five children- Dave (Jayne), Richard (Cindy), Larry (Mikki), Laurie Everts, and Vicki (Larry) Johnson. Also survived by eleven grandchildren- Nicholas, Tanya (Luke) Vangen, Brianna (Cindy) Belanger, Allison (Peter) Nowaskey, Nathan, Benjamin, Keegan Anderson, Braxton Anderson, Chazlyn Anderson, Colton Everts, and Hallie Everts, and eight great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by three brothers, Fred, Frank and Edward, and two sisters, Dorothy Lemke and Marian Rydbom.