William Joseph Whaley, Jr.

Bill Whaley, Jr. of Rush City passed away on Sunday, February 1, 2026 at the Burnett Medical Continuing Care Center in Grantsburg at the age of 85.

William Joseph Whaley Jr., who also went by Bill, Billy, Uncle Bill, Dad, Grandpa, or Papa, was born on April 14, 1940 to William and Jessie (Zaccardi) Whaley, Sr. in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was one of five children. He had three sisters, Kathleen, Karen, and Judy, and one brother, Bob. 

Amiable, gentle, and considerate were all words to describe the brother and friend he was while growing up. Hockey (right wing) and football were a couple of hobbies he had. He graduated from Monroe High in 1958. Immediately after graduating high school he went to work for the railroad to begin following in his fathers footsteps.

Bill went on to join the service in the year of 1963. He worked in the private first class as a moving specialist while stationed in Okinawa. After 2 years of being in the Army he went back to working for Chicago Northwestern.

Bill was a devoted family man. Becoming a godfather to his nephew Nick Whaley in 1965 was a significant part of his life. He was always around for all of his nieces and nephews; they knew they could always count on him.

1979 was the year that Bill met the love of his life, Karen. In 1985 Bill and Karen got a house together on Grace Lane in Saint Paul. Years later they eloped to Vegas and got married on February 12th, 1991. Bill became a stepdad to Karen’s five kids, Dawn, Melissa, Heidi, Erik, and Brent. He played a key role in each of their lives.

Bill later became a grandfather to Justin, Ashley, Chelsea, Tim, Tate, Charles and Samantha. He was the definition of grandpa.

In 1993, Bill became a godfather once again, but this time to his nephew Nick’s daughter Kelsey. It was a special event to him and he always felt honored by it.

After 42 years of working for the Chicago Northwestern Railroad, Bill retired. He had been very passionate about his career and talked about it frequently. The railroad was a part of who he was.

Hereafter, Bill gained the title Papa. That is what all of his great-grandkids called him. He had seven great-grandkids, Olivia, Alaina, Chase, Ryder, Lyla, Lennox, and McClane. He cherished each and every one of them.

Bill enjoyed his retirement. He had all the time to continue doing the things he loved and being around the people he loved, especially his wife.

In 2023, Bill was diagnosed with dementia. He was such an organized and routine person, that if you hadn’t known, you wouldn’t have guessed he had it.

In 2025, Bill and his wife moved up to Rush City to live with their grandson Justin and his family. Bill wasn’t too keen on the idea at first, as he was so used to being independent, but he settled in and enjoyed being surrounded by family.

In November of 2025, Bill’s health began to decline. He was diagnosed with decompensated cirrhosis. Despite the troubling diagnosis, Bill was able to enjoy Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year with lots of family.

Throughout his life, Bill was involved in church and would always go to 5:00 Mass so that he could still watch football on Sundays. He religiously donated to great causes such as Wounded Warriors. He loved going to the race track to watch and bet on horses with his wife. “Going to hit a bucket of balls” was a favorite for him as well. He was always up for making a donut run and reading the newspaper... as long as it was the Pioneer Press and not the Star Tribune. Going to watch activities that his niece, nephews, kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids were involved in was always a joy for him. He’d never turn down a Friday fish fry at Obb’s bar.

Everyone at the Grand 7 Saloon knew him well. He even tried getting into fishing with the help of his son-in-law, Brad, but he just couldn’t keep his line from tangling. Bill loved his family vacations to Leech Lake, going to the cabin and Florida trips with Tom and Sandi. He loved when he and his wife would get in the car and just drive... even when they would get lost and have to stay in random places. Thanks to his grandson Justin and Justin’s friend Les, Bill also found out he enjoyed bar crawls after they took him to one in St. Paul. You’d frequently hear him say he was going for a “walk around the block”, even at 85 years young.

Bill was a wonderful man.

Bill is survived by his wife Karen Whaley of Rush City; children Dawn Hetherington of Rush City, Heidi (Brad) Schafer of Rush City, Erik (Jamie) Hetherington of New Port, Brent Hetherington of Richfield; son-in-law Tim Herrera of Forest Lake; 7 grandchildren; 7 great-grandchildren; brother Bob (Rosalie) Whaley of West St. Paul; sister Kathleen Walker of Woodbury; brothers-in-law Billy Heine of Eagan, Bill (Terri) Ziemer of White Bear Lake; nieces and nephews; other relatives and friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents William and Jessi Whaley, Sr.; daughter Melissa Herrera; sisters Karen Whaley, Judy Heine; sister-in-law Sandy Adams.

Funeral services for Bill will be held at 5 PM; Friday, February 13, 2026 with a time of visitation from 3-6 PM all at the Olson Funeral Chapel in Rush City.

Memorials may be directed to:
Disabled American Veterans
P.O. Box 14301
Cincinnati, OH 45250-0301

Funeral arrangements are entrusted to the: Funeral and Cremation Service of Rush City ~ Olson Chapel
www.FuneralAndCremationService.com