William “Bill” Lewis Belmer Jr. of Waukesha died on Sunday, July 10, 2022 with drumsticks in hand after being diagnosed with stage four kidney cancer in 2016. He will be remembered as the warrior of all warriors having fought his illness stoically and his love of music remaining throughout.
Bill was born on October 31, 1958 the son of William and Arlene (nee Sholtz) Belmer, Sr. in Waukesha. He was a 1977 graduate of Waukesha North High School and continued his education at WCTI in welding. He worked for Ace Precision for 28 years. On July 4, 1986 he married Shari Belmer (nee Geisler); she preceded him in death on August 11, 2019.
Bill studied Karate at AAA Karate & Kobudo Studios and achieved his 2nd degree black belt status and won countless awards in many tournaments throughout the area. Bill had many interests including woodworking, hunting, fishing, watching baseball and football, and always rooting for the Green Bay Packers. However, Bill’s greatest passion was drumming. At the age of 4 he started playing the drums on pots and pans and his love for drumming never stopped. He was always smiling when he was playing the drums and despite all of his health issues when behind his drum kit he would leave everything behind and was at peace. Over his lifetime Bill was honored to have played with many musicians in southeast Wisconsin area and surrounding states.
He will be sadly missed by his children, Brett (Brittany Zillmer) Belmer and Carleen (Michael) Rogers; his father, William L. Belmer Sr.; brothers, Brent Belmer and Bryan (Laurie) Belmer, nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends. His mother Arlene Belmer died 36 hours after him on July 12, 2022 and he was preceded in death by his brothers Robert and Bradley.
Visitation will be held on Friday, July 22, 2022 from 4:00pm until the 6:00pm memorial service at Randle-Dable-Brisk Funeral Home, 1110 S. Grand Ave., Waukesha. In lieu of flowers, memorials are appreciated to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin (
https://giving.childrenswi.org/ways-to-give
).