The Lake Mills Fire Department is mourning the loss of one of its own.
Capt. Mark Bentheimer, 55, died this week after battling leukemia for four months. He was the department's most senior captain.
"His passion was definitely the fire department, his family, his grandkids," said his wife, Peggy Bentheimer. "Basically, he was just the kind that every time he filled a room, it was full of laughter and jokes."
He had twelve grandchildren and three children. Alicia Tsikretsis and Christine Behling said it doesn't matter that they weren't blood related to Bentheimer. He was their dad.
"He never once said, 'These are my stepchildren.' He always said, 'These are my kids.' To him, they were his kids," Peggy Bentheimer said.
"He was a father figure, but he was also my best friend as a father," Behling said. "No day is going to be the same without him."
They'll remember the times he spent boating and tubing with his family out on the lake near his home in Lake Mills.