William Rajaniemi

William W. Rajaniemi, age 74, of Grant Township, passed away Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, at Aspirus Keweenaw hospital in Laurium. He was born March 20, 1951, in Laurium, to William G. Rajaniemi and Judith E. Hill. He attended the Calumet schools, and received his diploma in 1981 after taking night classes to complete his high school studies in the winter of 1980-81.
He believed that he lived a life that others dreamt of. In that life,
he married twice, first to Kimberly J. Kilpela in Rapid City, South Dakota, with whom he had two sons who survive him: William J and John Rajaniemi of Mohawk.
His second marriage was to Susan Douglas Herring in 2005, on the beach east of Little Betsy, who also survives him.
He was a member of the Merchant Marine starting in 1969 through the mid-1970s. In the mid-to-late 1970s, he was a diamond driller with the Corps of Engineers. From the late 1970s to 2008, he was a truck driver for several companies. The majority of his career was with Peninsula Copper Industries in Hubbell. Through these vocations he got to see 49 out of the 50 states, with the only exception being Hawaii. Through his truck driving career, his first wife and sons got to see parts of the country they may never have otherwise gotten to see.
For many years, he spent a couple of weeks a summer camping with his first wife and sons at Lake Medora, Oliver Bay, and the very spot where he would eventually marry his second wife.
He spent his retirement at his home at South Point with his second wife. A home with a big bay window looking out at Lake Superior where he once sailed in his younger years.
He had been a fan of the Carolina Panthers since they were an expansion team in the mid-1990s.
He is survived by his brother, Steven Rajaniemi of Algonac, Michigan; and sister, Allyn Beth Rajaniemi of Pickens, South Carolina.