Donald J. Deppiesse

Donald J. Deppiesse was a longtime local electrician who with his wife also ran two local restaurants.
Mr. Deppiesse died Sunday, Aug. 5, at his home in the Town of Sherman. He was 81.
He worked at Bolen’s in Port Washington and was a member of Electrical Union Local 494. He then worked for Olsen Electric, Miller Electric and Specht Electric before starting his own shop, D&S Electric, which later became Midway Electric.
He and his wife, Myra, also ran the Midway Restaurant near Random Lake and the Dixie Inn Supper Club on Highway LL between Port Washington and Belgium.
The two of them met at the roller rink at Lake Ellen in Cascade.
“I fell in love with him right off,” Myra Deppiesse said. “I was 13 years old and we dated for the next seven years.”
Mr. Deppiesse was born on June 11, 1937, to Harry and Mildred Phillips Deppiesse. He grew up in the Town of Sherman and graduated from Random Lake High School in 1955, after which he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served on the the aircraft carrier USS Shangri La from 1955 until 1957.          
On May 30, 1959, he married Myra Falk, daughter of Laurin and Norma Suemnicht Falk, of Parnell, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Random Lake. The couple settled at Lake Ellen in Cascade for the first year, his wife said. They then moved to Belgium and lived there for four years. They moved to Port Washington where they lived for 15 years.
“Then we moved up to Random Lake and ran the Midway Restaurant,” Mrs. Depiesse said. Some time later they purchased the Dixie Inn.
Working full-time and running two restaurants meant they had little free time, she said.
“He worked after work,” finishing his day and then come work at the restaurant, she said. “We didn’t sleep. That was not part of our life. We never left the Dixie Inn until it was clean. Then I’d go open up the Midway for breakfast” and he’d go to his job.
In 1994, the couple moved to Las Vegas where they lived for five years and where Mr. Depiesse worked at Mohave Electric before moving to San Francisco, where he worked at Pacific Bell Park.
They came back to Wisconsin in 2000 and bought their current home in the Town of Sherman.  
Mr. Deppiesse retired in 2001 but continued working on a part-time basis cutting grass at Squires Country Club, Blackwolf Run golf course in Kohler, and Times Printing in Random Lake until he had a stroke in 2016.
Mr. Deppiesse was a member of Our Lady of the Lakes Parish, the Random Lake Lions Club, a past-commander of the Random Lake Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10820, a social member of the American Legion Post 82 in Port Washington and a former member of the Port Washington Fire Department.  
Mr. Deppiesse is survived by his wife, Myra, and children, Alan “Joe” (Dyan) of Random Lake, Kim (Dan) Mondloch of Random Lake, and Sue (special friend Michael Blane) Endres of Ft. Myers, Fla.; grandchildren Amber (fiancé Jon Travis) Endres and Ashley (fiancé Jared Johnson) Endres, Dana (Charles) Trotter, Kirstie (fiancé Jeff Thull) Deppiesse, Travis Deppiesse and Aubree (fiancé Chuck Quackenbush) Endres; seven great-grandchildren; sisters Dorothy (Orville) Wells of Lakewood, JoAnne (Richard) Mueller of Random Lake, Ceil (Dennis) Jandre of St. Cloud, Wis., and Judy Guetzke (special friend Jim Schmitt) of Hancock, Wis., sister-in-law Betty Deppiesse of Belgium, brothers- and sisters-in-law Bruce and Bev Falk of Kewaskum, Sandy and Tom Ingram of Madison and Gary and Jackie Nachreiner of Spring Green, and former-son-in-law John Endres of Fort Myers, Fla.
He is preceded in death by his grandson Austin Endres, brother Jim Deppiesse, brother-in-law Ray Guetzke, parents-in-law Norma and Laurin Falk, stepfather-in-law Harry Nachreiner, and sisters and brothers-in-law Leatha (Cliff) Wendorf, Iris (Harold) Seefeldt, Betty (Alfred) DeMarce and Herbert Falk.
A Mass of Christian burial will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 10, at Our Lady of the Lakes Parish St. Mary’s Chapel in Random Lake. Father Richard Cerpich will preside. Visitation will be from 2:30 to 6:15 p.m. at the church
Memorials are suggested to a charity of the donor’s choice.
 Eernisse Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.