Obituaries / LJWorld.com

Obituaries

The Mass of Christian Burial for William W. “Doc” Wempe, 94, Lawrence, will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Lawrence. Burial will follow in Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery. The Rev. John Schmeidler will be the celebrant.
Dr. Wempe died Thursday, Sept. 15, 2011, at The Windsor in Lawrence.
He was born on June 8, 1917, in Frankfort, the son of August J. and Anna Larsen Wempe.
Dr. Wempe was a retired veterinarian in Lawrence. For many years, he owned and operated the Wempe Small Animal Hospital on East Ninth Street in Lawrence. He also owned the Wauk-A-Way Farm south of Lawrence where he raised registered Holstein cattle and Shetland ponies.
Dr. Wempe graduated from Kansas State University in 1940 with a degree in animal husbandry. He graduated from the KSU Veterinary School in 1942. He was one of the founding members of the establishment of the Wempe/Luckroth Family Scholarship in Veterinary Medicine at K-State. The Wempe family received the Veterinary Medical Alumni Association Alumni Recognition Award from the Kansas Veterinary Medical Association Conference in 2001. The family was honored for their dedication to veterinary practice and service. Dr. Wempe received the Douglas County Friend of 4-H Award presented by the Douglas County Extension in the fall of 2009.
He married Margaret “Peg” Clark on Oct. 20, 1942, in Lillis. She preceded him in death on Jan. 31, 1986.
He was also preceded in death by a daughter, Patricia Transmeier in August 1995, and a son, Stephen C., in September 2007.
Survivors include a daughter, Nancy Swearingen, Lawrence; three sons, Michael, Odessa, Texas, Peter and wife JoAnn, Lawrence, and K.C. and wife Kari, Lawrence; 14 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren; and three sisters, Helen Wadick, of Connecticut, Bertha Wempe, Topeka, and Clara Boan of St. Louis.
The Parish rosary will be recited at 6 p.m. Monday at Warren-McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence. The family will greet friends following the rosary until 8 p.m.
The family suggests memorials to the Lawrence Humane Society or Douglas County 4-H Foundation, sent in care of the mortuary, 120 W. 13th St., Lawrence, KS 66044.
Online condolences may be sent to warrenmcelwain.com.