from the Florida SBOA

Pompano Beach, FL — William (Bill) Wick, 93, of Pompano Beach, Fla. and Taberg, N.Y., died Oct. 13, 2015, at The Deerfield Beach Health and Rehab Center where he had been a patient for 11 months.

Mr. Wick was born March 20, 1922, in Plymouth, Wis. He was the son of Otto and Wilma Lange Wick. He graduated from Plymouth High School in 1940, attended the University of Minnesota for a year and graduated from Horseshoeing School at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

He married Jeannette Ubbelohde in Plymouth, Wis. in 1947. Jeannette and their two youngest sons, Paul and Jeffery, were killed in an automobile accident in Ohio in 1968. Mr. Wick married Lucille Houston in Oneida, N.Y., in 1973.

As a young man Mr. Wick drove trucks and sailed in the Merchant Service but his first love was horses. He started shoeing horses in 1949. He traveled the Grand Circuit for 19 years and spent winters at Ben White Raceway (Orlando, Fla.) and Pompano Park (Pompano Beach, Fla.). During those 19 years he shod 18 Little Brown Jug winners in Delaware, Ohio and 14 Hambletonian winners in Du Quoin, Ill.

For the next 19 years he spent winters at Pompano Park and summers at Vernon Downs in New York. He retired from shoeing horses in 1993.

His favorite horse was Bret Hanover. The last horse he shod was for Brian Sears at Vernon Downs. The last thing he read was the Pompano Park racing program.

The Florida Chapter of the United States Harness Writers Association gave him the Dan Gawlas Good Guy Award in 2002 and in 2010 he was elected to the Florida Harness Racing Hall of Fame. The banquet was held on March 20, 2011, his 89th birthday.

Mr. Wick is survived by his wife, Lucille; daughter, Susan (Richard) White; granddaughters, Michele Throm and Kymberlee Throm; sisters-in-law, Mary Jane Ubbelohde and Bernice Ubbelohde; and several cousins, nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife, Jeannette; sons, Dennis, Paul and Jeffery; and brother, John.

The family wants to thank the staff at the Deerfield Beach Health and Rehab Center, Dr. George Boctor and Mari Donofrio for Mr. Wick’s care the past 11 months.

A memorial service will be held in Plymouth, Wis. in the spring. Funeral arrangements are being handled by the Suchon Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Plymouth, Wis.

Memorial contributions can be made to the Christian Harness Horsemen’s Association, 157 North Main St., Salem, NH 03079 or to the Vance Scholarship Fund, c/o Florida Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association, 1800 SW 3rd St., Pompano Beach, FL 33069.