William "Bill" J. Campbell

Age 90, passed away while in the presence of his wife Joan on June 21, 2019

Bill was born in St. Cloud, MN and attended St. Cloud Tech high school and St. Cloud State.

Bill was an exceptional athlete and excelled in both football and baseball, lettering in both sports 4 years while at St. Cloud State.  In football he played both offense and defense.  In 1951 he led the NCC conference in scoring and was named the conference Most Valuable Player.  His legend is that he “never dropped a pass”.  Bill is a member of the St. Cloud State and St. Cloud Technical high school Athletic Hall of Fame.

He met his wife Joan (Nord) Campbell in college and the courtship resulted in 66 years of marriage.

After college, Bill was employed by International Harvester as a truck salesman.  Bill enjoyed a 37-year career with “IH” with positions located in Virginia, MN, Brainerd, Mankato and Minneapolis.

Bill was an officer in the Navy and serviced on the USS Essex and Sicily aircraft carriers during the Korean War.

Following his retirement from International Harvester, Bill and Joan built a new house near Joan’s family in Elk River.  Bill didn’t stay retired and was employed at the Elk River Country Club serving in many roles from Club House Manager, mowing fairways, and many other needed duties that would allow him to hang out with the boys at the shop.  A time he loved so much.

Bill and Joan loved to travel, taking many trips to Sweden and Norway, vacations to Florida, Arizona and throughout the US.

Bill is survived by his wife, Joan; sons, Scott (Marlene) and John Campbell; grandchildren, Jeff (Laura) Campbell, Brittany (Matt) Alrich, and Christine Campbell; great-grandchildren, Carly (11), Jake (9), Campbell (Cam) (7), Cruz (5), Audrey (4) and Layla (1).  He is preceded in death by his father, William Bud Campbell; mother, Catherine Danzl; stepmother, Edna Campbell; sisters, Virginia Meyn and Betty Strobel.

A Celebration of Bill’s life will be at 2:00PM on Tuesday, June 25, 2019 at Elk River Lutheran Church, 729 Main Street, Elk River, with visitation starting at 1:00PM.  Visitation also on Monday, June 24 from 4:00-7:00PM at Dare’s Funeral Home, 805 Main Street, Elk River.

In lieu of flowers, memorials in Bill’s name may be directed to Elk River Lutheran Church, Guardian Angels, or the Parkinson Foundation at www.parkinson.org.

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