Allan Wirth fought an immensely brave battle with Parkinson’s over the better part of the last decade, but finally capitulated on Saturday, February 22nd, 2020 with his daughter, Paula, by his side.
Allan is survived by his wife, JeanAnn, whom he adored, and who adored him back, after more than 61 years of marriage, having first met at a cello lesson in 1947. Allan is further survived by his daughter Paula (Don) Pajewski of South Milwaukee, their three girls, Ana, Sophie, and Maryna; his son Bill (Rosemary) of Wauwatosa, and their sons Nicholas, Cole, and daughter Katy; his son Dan (Kim), and his four boys Alex, Zach, Ben, and Danny; and his son Patrick and Patrick’s son, Sam; as well as his pseudo son by unofficial adoption, George (Jeanne) Gilly and their two daughters, Shannon and Caitlin. Allan is further survived by his big brother, Stuart (Kathleen), of Cross Plains, WI, his sister in law Barbara, of Wauwatosa, and his loving former daughter in law, Angie; but preceded in the losing battle against time by his younger brother Bob (Susan) of Modesto, CA, and younger sister Susan of Milwaukee. Allan is further survived by many relatives and many friends, the result of his perpetually generous and helpful ways.
Born in Milwaukee on November 15th, 1931 to Bernard Aloysius and Florence Madeline (Steil) Wirth, Allan’s parents were forced to move his family multiple times due to the Depression, but settled finally at a home at 6624 Revere Avenue in Wauwatosa, the week of the attack on Pearl Harbor, when Allan was ten. Graduating from Wauwatosa High school in 1949, Allan worked more jobs than we can possibly remember, including the soda fountain at Woolworths, as a paper boy, in the paint shop at the American Motors factory, as a laborer at the Trostel Tannery in Milwaukee, and as a cab driver for Yellow Cab, to name just a few. Graduating from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee with degrees in music and education (adding a Masters of education from Marquette in 1965), he was hired by the Germantown School District to be the music/band director, where he taught from 1957 to 1975. He took his marching band on many trips, including to Winnipeg, Canada in 1966, the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington D.C. in 1969, and again in 1975, and to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in New York in 1971, where his marching band was chosen for the distinct honor of escorting Santa Claus in their iconic Christmas tree formation. Then, in the summer of 1974, after having worked with his students on Russian music during the prior school year, he took his entire band to Russia, in the USSR. After 18 years of teaching, Allan resigned in 1975. He spoke constantly about how much he loved his students, but was no longer willing to tolerate the negative politics inherent in so many school districts. From teaching, he went into real estate, starting out by purchasing duplexes, fixing them up by his own hands, eventually moving on to larger and larger properties. There was scarcely a job that he was unwilling to tackle himself. At his busiest, he owned and operated dozens of properties throughout Wauwatosa, including nearly 200 units. His goals were simple; to be independent and to determine his own fate, based upon his own personal work ethic, which was to work very hard so that he could provide a life of experiences for his wife, his kids, his extended family and his many friends. By any measure, he achieved those goals.
Allan’s love for travel seems to have started in 1958, when he traveled to Europe by himself, in steerage, on the RMS Queen Elizabeth. The framed photos from that very trip were the starting point for an ever growing collection on the walls of the finished recreation room on 81st St. As his eldest kids became old enough to travel, he and Jean would take them along. By 1976, at which time all four of his kids were old enough to travel for extended periods, he would take the whole family to explore Europe for four or five weeks during summer, renting a VW bus, plugging in a car fridge (that would serve as a dirty laundry bag on the trip back home), and buying bread, butter, cheese and sandwich meat, in order to be able to afford to do it again the next year. As his grandchildren became old enough, he invited his kids and grandkids to go with their grandparents on their adventures. Next to his grandchildren, whom he adored and who adored him back, travel was what made him truly happy, and those adventures with his family and friends represented the pinnacle of enjoyment for him, as it did for his family. Over his lifetime, he traveled overseas on more than 200 different trips, visiting every continent, experiencing the Amazon rainforest, the Galapagos Islands, the pyramids of Egypt, the Falkland Islands, safaris in South Africa, treks in the Australian outback, and seven expeditions to Antarctica, a favorite place of his. Perhaps his defining attribute was that Allan generally felt that he could help nearly anyone, to fix nearly every problem. He was truly generous to a fault. We were incredibly fortunate to have him for as long as we did, and he definitely fought valiantly to stay with us. He never once complained about his illness, and always said with absolute conviction that he was the luckiest man in the world. He is sorely missed.
A gathering to toast this extraordinary man is in the works for later in March. For those wishing to join Allan’s family for this gathering, please provide your name, email, and phone number, along with your connection to Allan, either to atoasttoallan@gmail.com, or directly to Bill Wirth at wmnw@hotmail.com, so that we may be able to let people know when these particulars have been finalized.
Instead of flowers, please consider a donation to the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (www.asoc.org), the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (www.mso.org), the World Wildlife Fund (www.worldwildlife.org), the Milwaukee Rescue Mission (milmission.org), or any worthy organization that would benefit from your generosity.
Finally, the family would like to offer our deepest and most heartfelt gratitude to the staff of the 3rd floor at the Lutheran Home in Wauwatosa, who took such compassionate care of Allan in his final days.
