Bill Opfer

Bill Jerome Opfer of Fairfax, VA passed away on December 22, 2021, at Fairfax
Inova Hospital in Fairfax, VA at age 83. A graveside service will be held at 2 pm
(Central time) on Sunday, January 2, 2022, at Rosehill Cemetery in Wentworth, South
Dakota and an online reception will be held via zoom at 7:00 pm (Central). He will be
buried next to his wife Marilyn and near other family members. The service will be
live-streamed and links will be added prior to the service on the Kinzley Funeral Home
website: https://www.kinzleyfh.com/
Bill Opfer was born October 12, 1938, in Norfolk, Nebraska to Herman and Frieda
(Voss) Opfer. He grew up in the Hoskins area. He attended South Dakota State
University in Brookings where he earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in
1961. During college, he married Marilyn (Holland) Opfer on Sept 10, 1960, in
Wentworth where she was born and raised.
Bill Opfer served in the US Army after graduation. He returned to civilian life and
began working for the US Forest Service in the Ochoco National Forest as a sanitation
engineer. He moved to the Zigzag District near Mt Hood where he worked on the
development of the Timberline Lodge. His interest in the environment developed as he
moved to Portland Oregon to be the leader of the Water Pollution Abatement Program in
1971. In 1973, he moved to Region 2 in Lakewood Colorado as the group leader in
environmental engineering and hydraulics. In 1977, Bill and Marilyn moved to DC
where he became Chief Environmental Health Engineer and Special Assistant to the
Secretary of Agriculture on hazardous waste policy and abatement. He was the
Department’s “technical expert for environmental engineering work involved in the
protection of land, water, and air resources” according to an article published in the
USDA News.
Bill’s 35 years of employment in the US Forest Service and Department of Agriculture
were highly regarded. He won numerous awards for his work on hazardous waste
cleanup such as with the Exxon-Valdez oil spill in Alaska, the Comprehensive,
Environmental, Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), and the Resource
and Recovery Act (RCRA). He received a letter of congratulations on his retirement
from President Bill Clinton saying
“Ranging from field posts in the Ochoco and Mt. Hood National Forests to work
at USDA Headquarters here in Washington, your long career has demonstrated a
deep commitment to protecting public health and safeguarding our national
resources. I am particularly grateful for the energy and leadership that have
advanced this administration’s initiatives – strengthening the Super Fund and
National Resouce Damage Programs and seeking to improve protections provided
by environmental laws. Your dedication to the American people has been
extraordinary and I thank you for a job well done.”
Upon retiring from civil service, Bill embraced a second career as an artist spanning
the next 25 years of his life painting under the name BJ Opfer. He specialized in detailed
watercolor paintings of local songbirds, waterfowl, butterflies, small mammals, and
native plants. As time went on, his business grew to include pet portraits such as dogs,
cats, exotic birds, horses, and a black Angus cow. He has done over 100 private
commissions and many, many art shows around the Virginia area. He did a solo show at
the Burke Garden Local Artist Series in 2013 where they spell out some of his artistic
achievements to date.
“B.J.’s work has been exhibited at U.S. Geological Survey; Huntley Meadows
Park; Green Spring Gardens; a juried show at the National Zoo in Washington,
DC; the Patuxent Wildlife Refuge Show (MD); and the Rappahannock Wildlife
Show (VA). B.J.’s work will be on exhibit at the Burke Garden Center from
Saturday, January 26, 2013 to Friday, February 15, 2013.”
BJ was a strong supporter and member of the Vienna Art Society, the National Wildlife
Association, the Wounded Warrier Project, and the Northern Virginia Handcrafters Guild.
Because of his pet portrait business, he had close connections with the Homeless Animals
Rescue Team (HART) in Fairfax Station, VA. Donations in his honor may be sent to
HART and any of these organizations.
Bill is survived by his sister Nancy Brudigan (spouse Jerry), sister-in-laws Beth
Holland and Jacquilyn Billey, nieces Andrea Gray (spouse Don), Sonya Holland, Susan
Holland and Sara Billey (spouse Paul Viola), nephew Jay Brudigan (spouse Jenese
Schifano) and grand niblings Emma, Terra, Meredith, Elias, Marisa and Alan. He was
preceded in death by his wife, Marilyn who passed in 2007, his parents and
brother-in-laws John Billey and Terry Holland, nephew Jeff Holland.
Please send pictures you would like to share of Bill for the memorial on zoom to
[email protected]. Also, anyone who would like to contribute some music, please do.
Bill especially liked country music.