George William Rommel

George William (Bill) Rommel was born February 15 1939 in Jackson Michigan. The oldest of three children born to Mildred Emma and Donald William Rommel. He is preceded in death by his parents and two sisters Judith, and Janice.

When Bill was four the family moved to Tempe Arizona where his grandmother, aunt, uncle and cousins lived. After a short time they moved to Norwalk California.

Bill attended UC Riverside where he met his Marilyn "Penny" Guth. After graduating UCR with a degree in Marine Biology he enrolled in Officer Candidate School with the Army. Bill and Penny were married on his birthday in 1964. Soon after the wedding they moved to Swabach Germany where he was stationed. In 1966 they moved back to Southern California and welcomed their firstborn son Scott William Rommel. Soon after, they moved to San Diego and Bill worked for Scripps Institution of Oceanography while Penny worked as an elementary school teacher. In 1970 they welcomed their second son Andrew Lalor Rommel.

The children have fond memories of spending days at the beach and dad would join them for some surfing on his lunch break. At some point Bill became disenchanted with the office work of grant writing versus the amount of time he could explore the ocean and he left Scripps and began working for a custom yacht manufacturer. He excelled in this environment where he could work with his hands and spend most of his time outside in the shipyard. Their home became the perfect mix of garage, backyard wood shop and garden with enough room for the boys to play. Bill's creativity blossomed as he became a very accomplished woodworker. He shared his love of woodworking through his small family business, Re-Creation in Wood, crafting old time folk toys from the scraps of exotic wood from around the world. He delighted in the joy of the many kids who marveled at the genius of simple wooden toys. The whole family pitched in helping to craft and construct the many different toys. Bill and Penny had built a very wholesome family environment with seemingly unending possibilities of creativity. Bill had endless energy to go to work, come home and work in the shop, tend the garden, help repair bicycles and cars, coach soccer, help with homework, make dinner. In the evening Bill and Penny would sit side by side and read to satisfy their curiosity and many interests. His sage advice which many of us have adopted "be careful and have fun" offers a glimpse of his encouraging words for everyone to enjoy life.

Bill's energy turned restless after the passing of his beloved Penny to whom he was married for 60 years. He was almost always up for a walk with any of his fantastic caregivers. It became clear he was searching for something, someone important was missing. He realized that search September 30,2025 when he joined his beloved Penny in Heaven.

Whether you knew him as Bill, Papa, Uncle Bill or just dad, he would often be described as great, the best or our favorite. He would always leave you with a kind smile and a thumbs up.

Bill leaves behind a legacy of love and kindness shared by all who knew him. He will be deeply missed by his kids families; Scott, Lori and Everett

and Drew, Hope, Isabel, Marin and Owen. As well as many nieces and nephews and countless friends and neighbors.

Please join us for a celebration of life October 25th at 2:00 pm at:

GG's Home

8330 Acacia Dr.

Flagstaff AZ 86004

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