Dietrich Hans Wilhelmi was born on May 2, 1941, to Luise Maria Sefrin & Hans Friedrich Wilhelmi of Beuthen, Germany. He spent his early years in Leipzig, Germany with his brother Ferdi, sister Hanne, and step-brother Manfred.
As a very young man in 1961, Dietrich immigrated to the United States to fulfill his dream of becoming a US citizen. After a brief stop in Canada, he took up residence in Wisconsin. While there, he chased his second dream, becoming a Brew Master. He was accepted into the prestigious Doemens Akademie in Munich to learn the art of brewing. He received his Master Brewer certification in 1964 and began honing his craft and embarking on a 40 year career in brewing.
It was in Monroe, Wisconsin where he hired on with the first of many brewing companies in his career, Huber Brewing. But more importantly, it was there where he met the love of his life, Judith (Judy). After being setup by a friend, Dietrich and Judy began a courtship and eventually a life together that spanned almost 60 years.
Shortly after their marriage, on March 21, 1967, Dietrich gained both his citizenship and his fatherhood. His eldest daughter, Jeannette and his citizenship arrived on the same day. Achievements of which he was exceptionally proud. And with his newly won citizenship and a growing family, Dieter furthered his travels following his brewing career. His career led them to Indiana, New York, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina. In one of those stops he and Judy had their second daughter (Amy) before putting down roots in Texas.
Texas was the headquarters for the next chapter in his career that led him to continue to brew internationally. For the next decade, plus, he crafted great beer in Zambia, China, Russia and Tunisia to name a few before finally leaving the malts and hops behind to do something else for which he longed: giving back to his beloved, adoptive country by serving it. In this chapter, Dieter served in Iraq (in both Baghdad and Fallujah) distilling but not in the obvious way. Here Dietrich did it to provide clean drinking water for the troops serving in those theaters. His last international stop was China where he worked on the construction of the new US Embassy in Beijing.
With his wanderlust and need to serve satisfied, Dieter returned to his home in Houston and retired to spend time with Judy, his daughters and his grandchildren. In his retirement, Dietrich continued to enjoy traveling with his wife, spending time with his family and curating his collections of cameras, watches, sunglasses, cars and friends. Dieter, D.H., Peter or Pete (all names he went by at some point in his travels) never met a stranger and it was his collection of friends that truly best told his story. Those with whom he crossed paths will forever remember his easy laugh and infectious, impish smile.
Dieter died on April 5th, 2022, just shy of his 81st birthday. He is survived by his wife Judy, his sister Hanne, his daughters Jeannette & Amy, his four grandchildren (Lauren, Beau, Matthew & Ryan) and scores of friends he folded into his family along the way.
A celebration of life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorial denotations can be made to the American Alzheimer’s Association in Dietrich’s or Dieter’s or Peter’s or D.H.’s or Pete’s name at: https://act.alz.org/site/Donation2?df_id=49619&mfc_pref=T&49619.donation=form1&32112.donation=&utm_source=google&utm_medium=paidsearch&utm_campaign=google_giving&s_subsrc=giving&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-ZqWpfmJ9wIVTRitBh3B9wgPEAAYASABEgKFovD_BwE
Or you can open a Budweiser, or a Lone Star, or a Rhino Lager, or a Huber or better yet a Schlitz or whatever is your favorite and raise a glass and say “Prost” to a man, a husband, a father and a friend who will be greatly missed.
