The O’Donnells, Generation 4: William F. O’Donnell (1922-2004)

Born William Frances, 1922 (The feminine form of his middle name is unusual for a male but not unknown, nor is it a mistake.)
Attended Lincoln High School
Served as Milwaukee county supervisor, 1948-1976
Served as Milwaukee county executive, 1976-1988
Married Norma Rose Schnell, 1955
Children: Timothy, Kathleen, Bridget, Margaret, Patrick, Hugh, Dennis, and Maureen
Died 2004
Norma: Died 2009.

Bill’s Wikipedia entry starts with a short biography and then usefully describes the highlights of his forty-year political career. For a more personal side of Bill you can read a complimentary profile by the Milwaukee Journal below.

World War II

A search turned up his draft registration but few other records of Bill’s military career. We know he was inducted into the Army Air Corps early in 1943 and served for a little over two and a half years, rising to the rank of Staff Sergeant before he mustered out in September 1945.

His pay as a Staff Sergeant was $96 a month, equivalent to $1,733, almost $21,000 a year, a substantial part of which he sent back to help his family in Milwaukee.

Bill never talked about his time in the Army so we have to rely on documents to get a glimpse of his time there. Oddly, for an organization sedulously devoted to recording the movement and location of the lower ranks, we have only his draft registration card and the knowledge that he spent time stationed in Italy, a fact gleaned from his pictures and not any service record.

Bill was honorably discharged in 1945. (See the first picture.)

Life

After working at a brewery for a couple of years Bill was elected to a seat on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors in 1948. Characteristically, even though he had almost two years as one of the highest ranking officials in the County, 1950 saw him still living in his father’s house with his younger brother Lorny and sister Marion.

This appreciative Milwaukee Journal article presents a complimentary–and accurate–portrait of Bill as a man and his political vision for making the County responsive to the needs of even its most humble citizens.