He was born on July 23, 1934 to Werner and Florentina(Werla) Wipperfurth. He was married to Nancy(Diehl) in Sauk City on June 14, 1956.

He was a mail carrier in and around Sauk City for 34 years. After retiring from there he kept busy working at Fiskars and Weiss' sweet corn. He then found his true calling as the manager of his son Greg's hunting operation-Wipp's Pheasant Ranch, where he got to work with birds, hunters, dogs and family almost every day.

He was a true outdoorsman and loved to hunt, fish, gather hickory nuts or asparagus and anything outside. He was happy to share his knowledge, and taught anyone who was interested about the things he loved. His grandchildren have many stories about hunting with him and he always enjoyed hunting with them. He was a great storyteller and he never forgot a detail.

He made friends everywhere he went and one of his favorite activities was visiting with all of them. Those visits usually included a watermelon, raspberries, hickory nuts, fish or whatever was in season in his large garden.

He was known as Grandpa Joe to all his grandchildren, great grandchildren and any child that was lucky enough to have met him. He had a way to make every child feel special and he never forgot any of them.

He suffered a stroke in January and was given 2-4 weeks to live, but while laying in his hospice bed at home, under the care of his family and a constant stream of visitors, he rallied and proved the doctors wrong. His initial goal was to get to Ho-Chunk casino and he managed to get there dozens of times with his brother Ray and daughter Terri and son-in-law Jerry.

Like the free bonus play on the slot machines, he, and us, were given an extra bonus round of 9 months. On his last day his doctor said she was happy to hear he got to enjoy his life after his recovery, and he certainly did. His family wants to thank all of his extended family and friends that visited and spent time with him in these last 9 months. You truly made his days enjoyable and he loved you all.

We would also like to thank the Sauk Prairie Ambulance Association for your fast and professional service, all his doctors and nurses at SPMH, especially Dr. McAuliffe, and Agrace Hospice care for your help back in February.

Survivors include his wife Nancy, his children Greg (Diane), Jim (Julie), Terri (Jerry)Krumenauer and Amy (Jeff)Crosby

Grandchildren, Tony (Annie), Audrey (Mike) Gray,  Ted (Jenna), Darin (Courtney),Jordan (Sara Mrkvicka), Joel (Aisha Liebenow), Becky (Scott) Ballweg, Jacob Krumenauer, Jamie (Dylan) Handel, Kyle (Samantha) Crosby, Leah (Jeremy) Retrum.

He had 14 great grandchildren and 2 more that are on the way.

He is also survived by a brother Ray, sister Helen (Ronnie) Meinholz and sister-in-law Ann Wipperfurth.

He was preceded in death by his parents, brothers Arthur, Robert, Sylvester, Alvin, Jerome, Leo, sisters Pat Swingle and Delores Frey, two infant siblings Norbert and Darlene.

A mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11am on Wednesday, October 27 at St Norbert's Church in Roxbury, Wisconsin. Burial will follow the mass at St Norbert's cemetery. There will be a celebration of life at the Dorf Haus after the burial.

Masks are required at St Norberts church as to Dane county ordinance.