Ethel Hedwig (Grunske) Lindert, 97, left her earthly home on July 22, 2023, to be with her Lord and Savior at her eternal home in Heaven. Ethel was born to Otto and Hildegard (Goltz) Grunske on March 13, 1926, in the Town of Hubbard. She became a child of God through Holy Baptism on May 2, 1926, at St. John’s Lutheran Church Woodland, and confirmed her faith at St. John’s Lutheran Church Woodland on April 10, 1938, learning the catechism in both English and German. On April 12, 1944, she was united in marriage with Harold Lindert. Together they farmed on the family farm in the Town of Theresa until Harold’s death in 1988. Ethel was a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Mayville. Ethel loved to sew, garden, and canned an abundance of vegetables to feed her large family. She crocheted beautiful doilies of all sizes. Harold and Ethel enjoyed polka dances and trips with family and friends. Ethel is survived by eight children, Marcel (Joan) Lindert, Marlyn (Nancy) Lindert, Gloria Rassmann, Wanda (Bob) Fairly, Marvin (Arlette) Lindert, Mark (Tonya) Lindert, Robin (Debbie) Lindert and Dawn (Gary) Krueger; 25 grandchildren, Randy (Laura) Sellnow, Tony (Nancy) Sellnow, Jennifer (Jay) Adelmeyer, Lisa (John) Wozniak, Steven Lindert, Jon (Karen) Lindert, Daniel (Marina) Lindert, Sheri (Dave) Wilderman, Jill Guetzke, Kevin (Melissa Smith) Lindert, Shawn (Rick) Krapfl, Shelly (Brian) Miescke, Heather (Don) Dargel, Amanda Fairly, Ben (Meredith) Fairly, Aaron (Ashley) Lindert, Dale (Mallory) Lindert, Faye (Jason) Franklin, Kristi Lindert, Dustin (Kristin) Lindert, Justin (Amanda) Lindert, Ashley (Loran) Leech, Samantha (Jonathan) Whitver, Kelsey (fiance’ Ryan Scott) Krueger and Collin Krueger; 47 great-grandchildren with another on the way; four great-great-grandchildren; nephew, Melvin (Dana) Callies; other family and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, Otto and Hildegard Grunske; father-in-law and mother-in-law, John and Clara Lindert; daughter, Jane Sellnow; son (in infancy), Morris Lindert; sister, Ivy (Arnold) Callies; sons-in-law, William Sellnow Jr. and Larry Rassmann; great-nephew, Brad Callies. Funeral services for Ethel Lindert will be held at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Mayville with Rev. Dr. Mark G. Cutler officiating on Thursday, July 27, at 4:30 pm. A visitation will be held on Thursday, July 27, from 3 p.m. until the time of service at 4:30 p.m. at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Mayville. Burial will take place at St. John’s Cemetery in Mayville. The family would like to express their sincere thanks to Hospice Home of Hope for the great care they gave Ethel for the past 10 months. The family has requested that memorials be directed to St. John’s Lutheran Church in Mayville. Koepsell Funeral Home in Mayville has been entrusted with the funeral arrangements.

   Lloyd Glenn Kam­rath, 76, of Mayville, passed away peace­fully on Mon­day, July 17, 2023, with his beloved wife, Bon­nie, at his side, at St. Mary’s Hos­pi­tal in Madi­son.   Lloyd was born the son of Hilbert and Elvira (Kuehl) Kam­rath on Oc­to­ber 28, 1946. He grew up on a small fam­ily farm out­side of Mayville, which in­stilled in him an in­cred­i­ble work ethic, love for the out­doors, and strong be­lief in faith, fam­ily, and friends. He was af­fec­tion­ately known as “Sonny” by his par­ents. Lloyd was united in mar­riage to his beloved Bon­nie Jean Schultz on Au­gust 18, 1973, at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Neosho. To­gether, they would work their own dairy farm, build a fam­ily, and cel­e­brate nearly 50 years of mar­riage.   Lloyd was an in­cred­i­bly de­voted hus­band, fa­ther, grand­fa­ther, and an amaz­ing ex­am­ple of hard work and quiet de­ter­mi­na­tion. Lloyd worked all his life to pro­vide for his wife, chil­dren, and grand­kids as a dairy farmer and, later in life, a metal fin­isher. He loved spend­ing time on the front porch with his wife, Bon­nie, lis­ten­ing to the “barn show” or Bob Uecker call­ing a Brew­ers game while look­ing at his well-main­tained lawn, marigolds, petu­nias, and rose bushes. He was an in­cred­i­bly tal­ented and ath­letic cross-coun­try run­ner be­fore grad­u­at­ing from Mayville High School in 1965. He will be re­mem­bered for his love of lemon torte, lemon bars, rasp­berry torte, re­ally any dessert, chicken spread, Amer­ica’s Fun­ni­est Home Videos, a Fri­day night fish fry, polka danc­ing, and a whiskey old fash­ioned. He loved Wis­con­sin sports teams, at­tend­ing hun­dreds of his kids and grand­kids sport­ing events, mu­si­cals, plays, tak­ing his grand­kids fish­ing on his boat, and play­ing sheepshead with his close cir­cle of friends. We will never for­get his jolly laugh, big heart, and will­ing­ness to give any mem­ber of his fam­ily the shirt off his back or last dol­lar in his wal­let. He was often a man of few words, but al­ways able to show his chil­dren and grand­chil­dren they were deeply loved with a sim­ple hug or a few words of en­cour­age­ment.    Lloyd is sur­vived by his wife, Bon­nie, of Mayville; four chil­dren, Joel (Chris) Kam­rath of Wa­ter­town, Jamey Kam­rath and Cleo Mueller (spe­cial friend) of Mayville, Benji (Melinda) Kam­rath of Wa­ter­town and Nicole (Adam) Oestre­ich of Mayville; 10 grand­chil­dren, Alexus, Han­nah, Colin, Brae­dyn, Pax­ton, Reece, Olivia, Brevon, Nahla, Sul­ley; his sis­ter, Kris (Jeff) Jaster of Theresa; as well as other rel­a­tives and friends.   He was pre­ceded in death by his par­ents, Hilbert and Elvira Kam­rath and his sis­ter, Diane Kam­rath.   Fu­neral ser­vices for Lloyd will be held at St. John’s Ev. Lutheran Church in Mayville on Sat­ur­day, July 22, at 12 p.m. with Rev. Dr. Mark G. Cut­ler of­fi­ci­at­ing. A vis­i­ta­tion for Lloyd will be at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Mayville on Sat­ur­day, July 22, from 9:30 a.m. until the time of ser­vice at 12 p.m. In­ter­ment will fol­low the ser­vice at St. John’s Ceme­tery in Mayville.   Koepsell Fu­neral Home in Mayville is car­ing for the fam­ily. www.​Koepsellfh.​com

   Barabara A. Ko­r­nely, 77, of Fox Lake, died on Tues­day, July 11, 2023, at St. Mary’s Hos­pi­tal in Madi­son.   Bar­bara Ann was born on Sep­tem­ber 30, 1945, in Chicago, Illi­nois, to Al­fred and Martha (Schwake) Schellin. While grow­ing up on her par­ents' farm in Mayville, she was very ac­tive in 4H and prob­a­bly won many Blue Rib­bons for her cloth­ing en­tries at the Dodge County Fair. Barb helped her dad on the farm with var­i­ous farm chores, earn­ing the name “Bobby” from her Dad.   Barb was the vale­dic­to­rian of her class at Mayville High School in 1963, and she fur­thered her ed­u­ca­tion with a bach­e­lor’s de­gree in Home Eco­nom­ics from Stout State Uni­ver­sity in 1967. She was rec­og­nized for Who’s Who in Amer­ica’s Col­leges and Uni­ver­si­ties for her par­tic­i­pa­tion in the stu­dent ed­u­ca­tion as­so­ci­a­tion, as a copy ed­i­tor of the Stou­ton­ian col­lege news­pa­per, the sec­re­tary of the Home Eco­nom­ics Club, an ed­i­tor-re­porter of Phi Ep­silon Omi­cron, and pub­lic­ity chair­per­son of Women’s Recre­ation As­so­ci­a­tion. Barb also par­tic­i­pated in 4H Club and Lutheran As­so­ci­a­tion.   Barb was united in mar­riage with Lee Ko­r­nely on Jan­u­ary 21, 1967, in Mayville. To­gether, they owned and op­er­ated Ko­r­nely’s Craft and Hobby Cen­ter in Beaver Dam for 49 years. Barb taught cook­ing and sewing classes at Moraine Park Tech­ni­cal Col­lege for sev­eral years, and taught at the Ju­nior High school in Baron for a year.   She loved to read, craft, cook, paint and spend­ing time in the gar­den. Barb had a unique abil­ity to learn new crafts, so she could pass this knowl­edge to oth­ers. She shared her love of craft­ing with count­less peo­ple over the years.   Barb was ac­tive in the Beaver Dam Cham­ber of Com­merce and was pres­i­dent of the Woman’s Af­fil­i­ate in 1985, and was a board mem­ber for ACCI (As­so­ci­ated Cre­ative Craft In­dus­tries).   Barb is sur­vived by her hus­band, Lee of Fox Lake; chil­dren, Sara (Ken) Fi­rari of Low­ell, Mark Ko­r­nely of Beaver Dam, and Todd (Saman­tha) Ko­r­nely of Lit­tle Torch Key, FL; grand­chil­dren, Blaiz Fi­rari, Con­nor Ko­r­nely, and An­drew Ko­r­nely; sib­lings, Diane (Ken) Kanzen­bach, Melvin (Brenda) Schellin, and Jean (Den­nis) Buss; nieces and nephews; other rel­a­tives and friends.   She was pre­ceded in death by her par­ents; sis­ter, Car­olyn Dehler; and brother, Don­ald Schellin.   The memo­r­ial gath­er­ing will be at Koepsell-Mur­ray Fu­neral Home in Beaver Dam on Fri­day, July 21, from 10 a.m. until noon. The memo­r­ial ser­vice will fol­low at the fu­neral home on Fri­day at noon with Rev. Jim Wendt of­fi­ci­at­ing.   We would like to thank the staff at the Colum­bus ER, and spe­cial thanks to Saint Mary’s doc­tors, nurses and hos­pice staff for mak­ing Barb’s jour­ney into heaven a peace­ful one. She had bat­tled can­cer since 1996, and fi­nally suc­cumbed to treat­ment com­pli­ca­tions.   The Koepsell-Mur­ray Fu­neral Home in Beaver Dam is car­ing for the fam­ily. To leave on­line con­do­lences, or for di­rec­tions and other in­for­ma­tion, please visit our web­site at www.​KoepsellFH.​com.

   Adrian "80" Carlos Geiger, lifelong resident of Theresa, passed away at the age of 75 at his home on June 24, 2023.    "80" was born in Madison to Albert and Anita (Pahnke) Geiger.    "80" grew up in Theresa and attended Theresa Public School and Mayville High School, graduating in 1966. After graduation, he started employment at the Gehl Company in West Bend. He worked there for 39 years until the Gehl Company ended production. He also worked for the SooLine Railroad and the Dodge County Housing as a maintenance man.    "80" and his wife bought and operated, along with their three children, "The Mart," on main street Theresa for numerous years. Fond memories were made for many people at "The Mart." He and his wife also bought a bar on main street Theresa, which was well known as "The Bear's Den," "Mark's Get-A-Way," "Fred's Garage," "Paliden's" and a few others. "80" was always searching for his next endeavour.    On November 25, 1967, "80" married Mary A. Klumpjan. They lived almost 56 years together, raising three model children, whom became his pride and joy.    He and his wife enjoyed many travels, including Hawaii (numerous times), Alaska, Mexico, Jamaica, Las Vegas, casino trips and many more.    "80" is survived by his devoted wife, Mary; his three children, Jill Geiger Firehammer - husband, Mike, Rick Geiger - wife, Terri Budahn Geiger, and Chad Geiger - wife, Laura Jewson Geiger; "Papa" to nine grandchildren whom he loved and was so proud of beyond words, Cindy Geiger Bottine - husband, Jeremy, Nick Geiger - wife, Ali Wittchow Geiger, Andrea Geiger - friend, Weston DeKoning, Natalie Geiger Wondra - husband, Dustin, Crystal Geiger, Nadean Geiger - friend, Drake Fleischman, Cole Geiger, Lacey Firehammer and Trent Vielbig; "Great Papa" to four great-grandchildren, Jaxon Bottine, Payton Bottine, Jaiden Firehammer and Trinity Firehammer. He is further survived by two brothers, one sister, three sisters-in-law, three brothers-in-law, and many nieces and nephews.    "80" was preceded in death by his father, Albert; his loving mother, Anita; his father-in-law and mother-in-law; and his precious great-grandchild of 45 days, his little angel, Alayna Bottine.    Remember "80" as a "go to man," a "Jack of all trades," a "fixer of everything," and mostly a loving husband, father, and especially a loving "Papa" to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.    Playing poker with his family and enjoying "salted in the shell peanuts" on the picnic table by the river were his special times. Per "80"s request, no visitation or funeral.  A private burial will be at a later date.

   Franklin H. Forrest, 80 years old, of Oshkosh passed away at St. Elizabeth Hospital June 10, 2023, with his children at his side.   Franklin was born on March 23, 1943, in Elkhorn, to Leland and Mabel (Snell) Forrest. They moved from Elkhorn to Appleton. Leland passed away when Franklin was nine years of age and Mabel passed away when he was 13 years of age. Diane came home to stay with Franklin before he moved to San Antonio, TX, with Ken’s family for three years. When Ken was stationed in Europe, Franklin moved to Horicon, to live with Donna’s family. Franklin was especially close to his nephew, David, who was more like a brother.   Franklin graduated from Horicon High School in 1961. He and Barbara moved to Oshkosh, where Franklin graduated from the Wisconsin State University of Oshkosh.   Franklin held many careers, but the one he cherished the most was having his broker’s license and working with Real Marketing.   Franklin loved to play poker and had a great group of friends he played with for the past 40+ years. Anyone who knew Frank knew he liked to play by his rules. Franklin thoroughly loved hunting, camping and riding Dusty Trails in Oconto County.   Franklin is survived by his former wife, Barbara L. Forrest; their children, Matthew Forrest and AmySue Hartman (Tom Korn); along with grandsons, Jesse and Jacob Hartman. Franklin is further survived by his sister-in-law, Joan Forrest; his favorite nieces and nephews; and many very special friends.   Franklin was preceded in death by his parents, Leland and Mabel (Snell) Forrest; siblings, Kenyon Forrest, Donna (Warren) Johnston, and Diane (Don) Misener; and close friend, Ellen Decent.   All family and friends are invited to Franklin’s celebration of life will be held on August 19, at Fox Cities Funeral & Cremation Services, 3026 Jackson Street, Oshkosh WI 54901. Visitation will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. with a short service at 1 p.m.   Please come and share stories of how Franklin made an impact upon your life.   In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in memory of Franklin H. Forrest to your favorite organization.    Extra special thanks to David Hochtritt, who visited Dad consistently each week if not several times per week since December 11, 2022, as he went in/out of the hospitals, nursing facilities, etc.

  Clin­ton Peter Zim­mer­man Jr. “Buzzy” passed away at the age of 74 in Juneau, peace­fully at his home with his four chil­dren by his side on June 24, 2023.   Buzzy was born in Hart­ford, to Clin­ton and Marie (nee In­falt) Zim­mer­man.   He grew up in the Slinger and Hart­ford area and as a child he would often be found at the Slinger Speed­way watch­ing his dad race cars, or out fish­ing, catch­ing frogs and col­lect­ing coins and stamps. His dad’s race car was #44. This num­ber came to be a very cher­ished, pow­er­ful, and mean­ing­ful num­ber to every­one in his fam­ily down to the grand kids hon­or­ing this tra­di­tion by hav­ing it on their jer­seys.    Buzzy at­tended high school at Hart­ford Union High, grad­u­at­ing c/o 1966. After high school he was drafted into the United States Army where he served as an MP in the Viet­nam War. When he re­turned home, he at­tended MATC for Art and De­sign. As an adult he en­joyed going out, roller skat­ing, play­ing sports, hik­ing the hills of Pike Lake, and scuba div­ing. A huge part of his life was ded­i­cated to work­ing in his fam­ily busi­ness at the Zim­mer­man’s Auto Body shop in Hart­ford, which he took over from his fa­ther Clin­ton Sr. His pas­sion of art came through in the shop by cus­tom paint jobs which landed him in mul­ti­ple auto mag­a­zines for his in­cred­i­ble tal­ent.    In 1973 Buzzy mar­ried Glo­ria Ann Gehl from Slinger, where they ran the au­to­body shop and raised their three chil­dren. Al­though they went their sep­a­rate ways, they shared a bond of friend­ship, re­spect and a ded­i­cated level of co-par­ent­ing. In 1991 Buzzy was blessed with his fourth child, who is now ex­tremely close with his other three chil­dren. In 1996 he closed down the shop and moved to Mayville, WI where he worked for Mayville Metal and also at Berlon in Hus­tis­ford.   While in Mayville, Buzzy con­tin­ued his pas­sion for art­work. As a tal­ented artist he took pride in wood carv­ing, air­brush­ing, paint­ing, draw­ing, and an­tique toy col­lect­ing and restora­tion. He spent much of his time re­search­ing the postal his­tory of the sur­round­ing coun­ties and would often visit the Hori­con Marsh to hike and find in­spi­ra­tion for his many na­ture in­spired paint­ings. His love for na­ture con­tin­ued on with his unique pas­sion for 4-leaf clovers. One would often find him out in the sun­shine with his nose in the grass find­ing that per­fect clover. This is now a com­fort­ing mem­ory for his fam­ily and a past time tra­di­tion his chil­dren will con­tinue.    Buzzy’s last ac­com­plish­ment was tak­ing the Bad­ger Honor Flight out to Wash­ing­ton DC on May 20, 2023. He beamed with pride as he was wel­comed home by his loved ones.   He is re­mem­bered by his sis­ters, Chrissie (Art) Lobotzki, Bob­bie (Michael) Ebben, Suzie (Jeff) Schrab; chil­dren, Cale “Mojo” Zim­mer­man, Kara (Corey) Er­stad, Kena (Steven) Archer and Tyler (Sammy) Zim­mer­man; and grand­chil­dren, Kowen Er­stad, Bray­den Zim­mer­man, Kenley Er­stad, Dax­ton Archer, and Evette Zim­mer­man, as well as many loved nieces and nephews.   Buzzy was pre­ceded in his death by his fa­ther, Clin­ton and mother, Marie, and sis­ters, Kathy Galvan and Molly Zim­mer­man.   A spe­cial thank you to his CNA Kari through Vis­it­ing An­gels, and all the staff at Rain­bow Hos­pice, es­pe­cially his Nurse, Emmy and So­cial Worker, Jes­sica for their com­fort and sup­port to him and his fam­ily dur­ing his final days. Lastly, a kind thank you to Mike Raasch Jr., your kind­ness in his time of need will never be for­got­ten. In lieu of flow­ers, please con­sider a do­na­tion to the Bad­ger Honor Flight at https://​bad​gerh​onor​flig​ht.​org/​do­nate   A Cel­e­bra­tion of Buzzy’s Life will be held Sat­ur­day, Au­gust 26, 2023. De­tails to fol­low, please visit www.​shi​monf​uner​alho​me.​com for up­dated in­for­ma­tion.

   On June 7, 2023, we lost our beautiful son, Russell Little, to suicide.    Everyone that knew Russell remembers him as one of the most kind, bright, creative, enthusiastic people ever. Always an engineer at heart, he loved building anything from software programs to his own furniture for his house in Madison. He loved baking bread and growing things and making pickles. He loved playing with his dog, Tara, and camping and hiking with his lovely girlfriend Anna. He was appreciated and respected by his engineering team at TDS. He loved playing board games with his friends, and traveled the country to enjoy being with his grandparents and cousins. He brought joy to all who knew him.    We are all struggling to understand how this wonderful, beloved person, who had so much going for him, could have taken his own life. As his mother, even though I knew Russell had suffered times of devastating depression, I naively believed that he was able to manage, and that the life he was building would sustain him. I now believe that he suffered from bipolar swings, as his sister does, and that after a long period of intense happiness, the latent depression hit him hard and robbed him of his own connection to himself and those he loved.    During his last two weeks, we could tell he was lost, and he agreed to be hospitalized at UW-Health in Madison. He started a treatment program there, but on the night of his release from the hospital his illness took him from us.    Russell was loved and respected by many people spanning from his dear childhood friends in Novi, Michigan, to friends from St. Stephen School in Horicon, to his friends at Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam (graduated 2011) and UW-Madison (graduated 2016.)    He is survived by his parents, Beth and Doug Plier, and Doug Little and Jerry Abb; his sister and her husband, Barbara Little and Sam Dickey; his step-brothers, Grant and Keith Lowe; his girlfriend, Anna Schenk and the whole Schenk family; his grandparents, Chuck Shipman, Keith Raney and Christine Nielsen, and too many wonderful aunts, uncles, cousins and friends to list here. He will be deeply missed by all, including his dog, Tara and his cat, Qat.   A Russell Little Memorial Fund is being set up through Church Health Services to support Mental Health in the Schools for children who otherwise couldn’t access the services they need. This community-based health service program provides mental health services for children attending Wayland Academy, Waupun Area Schools, Horicon Schools and Beaver Dam Schools, all of which have special meaning to Russell and his family. Contributions can be sent directly to CHS, 115 N Center Street, Beaver Dam, WI 53916. Please indicate that your gift is for the Russell Little Memorial Fund.    A public celebration of Russell’s life will be held at 4 p.m. on Friday, July 14, at the Kimberly Chapel on the campus of Wayland Academy, 101 North University Avenue, Beaver Dam, WI 53916. Virtual attendance through Zoom will be available, and is encouraged if you are not in the area. Please contact Beth Plier for the zoom link at bplier@waupun.k12.wi.us.    A private memorial will be held at a later date at our family cottage near Crivitz.

   Lucy Ann Klokow, 85, passed away on Thurs­day, June 22, 2023, at Cross­roads Care Cen­ter in Mayville.    Lucy was born the daugh­ter of Ellis and Lu­cille (Wurl) Stein­bach on May 6, 1938. She was a grad­u­ate of Mayville High School.   Lucy was united in mar­riage to Lam­oyne Klokow in Florida.    Lucy loved music and was the lead singer and gui­tarist in a coun­try band. She en­joyed mak­ing puz­zles and doing word searches. Lucy had a life­long love of birds and en­joyed tend­ing to her flow­ers out­side. Lucy cher­ished the time she spent with her fam­ily and friends.   Lucy is sur­vived by her chil­dren, Deb­o­rah (Dan) Bunkoske and Her­bert (Ann) Timm; her grand­chil­dren, Matthew Giese (Cait­lyn), Jessie (John) Shane, Cassie Giese (Mike), Jen­nifer (Bran­don) Cof­fey, Jes­sica Timm, Ash­ley Koon, Je­re­miah Timm (Katie), and Bailee Timm (Austin); 12 great-grand­chil­dren; her sis­ter, Di­anne Al­binger. Lucy is fur­ther sur­vived by nieces, nephews, other rel­a­tives, and friends.   Lucy was pre­ceded in death by her par­ents; her hus­band, Lam­oyne; and one son in in­fancy, Her­bert E. G. Timm.    Koepsell Fu­neral Home in Mayville is serv­ing the fam­ily. www.​Koepsellfh.​com

   J. Ge­of­frey “Geoff” Washa, 81, of West Bend found peace on Mon­day, May 22, 2023, at home with his fam­ily by his side.   He was born on Au­gust 8, 1941, to the late Joseph and Laura (nee Koudelka) Washa in Mil­wau­kee.    Most of you know him as Geoff, Coach, or Mr. Washa, but he began life with a name tra­di­tion­ally given to the first son, Joseph—for those who won­dered what the “J.” stood for, now you know. To his fam­ily, he was known as Dad and a won­der­ful hus­band. Just as he taught and coached his stu­dents and ath­letes through life, he too taught and coached us through life with in­cred­i­ble in­tegrity and a spe­cial en­cour­ag­ing way to al­ways do your very best!   Being a stu­dent/ath­lete helped Geoff to be an in­flu­en­tial coach. Geoff ex­celled in wrestling. He grad­u­ated from Mil­wau­kee’s Wash­ing­ton High School in 1959 and went on to let­ter all four years wrestling for the Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin La Crosse. Geoff grad­u­ated in 1963 with ma­jors in his­tory and phys­i­cal ed­u­ca­tion.   While in col­lege he met De­lores (Dee) Mc­Clurg. They mar­ried on June 15, 1963, just two weeks after their col­lege grad­u­a­tion! Dee says, “it all began with a smile and that sense of hap­pi­ness stayed with her for all their 60 years to­gether.” She al­ways ad­mired his sense of love for fam­ily, plus his un­wa­ver­ing honor and com­mit­ment.   Geoff’s first teach­ing job began in Bruce, Wis­con­sin, where he taught his­tory and phys­i­cal ed­u­ca­tion, as well as coached wrestling and track. Geoff de­vel­oped a spe­cial kin­ship with some of his first stu­dents, es­pe­cially his wrestlers coach­ing im­por­tant life lessons. Geoff next taught his­tory and coached wrestling, track, and JV foot­ball in Dodgeville.    In 1967, they moved to Mayville, where they lived and worked for the next 30 years. He taught world his­tory to fresh­man and had many classes be­liev­ing he was only 29 years old for many years--al­ways a kid at heart. Geoff’s 34-year coach­ing ca­reer in­cluded being Mayville’s var­sity wrestling coach for 24 years and as­sis­tant var­sity foot­ball coach until 1984, when he be­came the in­terim head foot­ball coach. Geoff stayed on as an ath­letic di­rec­tor and a high school ad­min­is­tra­tor until his early re­tire­ment in 1997 due to his Non-Hodgkin’s Lym­phoma.    Just as he pushed oth­ers to al­ways go hard, be strong, fight tough, he too was a fighter. His fam­ily and friends ad­mired his mul­ti­ple fights with can­cer, a suc­cess­ful 1998 stem cell trans­plant. He was a sur­vivor and would go on to enjoy his re­tire­ment.In 2001, Geoff and Dee moved to Big Cedar Lake, West Bend, where they en­joyed shar­ing their days on their golden pond. Life on the lake meant days of fun and quiet times with their fam­ily, es­pe­cially their two grand­daugh­ters, trav­el­ing and spend­ing his days qui­etly re­lax­ing, feed­ing the birds, fish­ing, and “doing what­ever he dammed well pleased!”   Those Geoff leaves be­hind to cher­ish his mem­ory in­cludes more than 3,000 stu­dents and ath­letes, along with his lov­ing wife, Dee Washa; two chil­dren, J. Bradley (Mar­lea Fur­long and her daugh­ter Brynn) Washa and Kathryn (Randy) Klopfer; two grand­daugh­ters, Bri­anna Klopfer and McKenna Klopfer; niece, Laura (Kevin) Bagin; brother-in-law, Gary (Lin) Mc­Clurg; sis­ter-in-law, Pa­tri­cia (Al) Han­son; and many rel­a­tives and friends. In ad­di­tion to his par­ents, he was pre­ceded in death by his sis­ter, Ju­dith (Ken) Mc­Cool.   VIS­I­TA­TION: The fam­ily will greet rel­a­tives and friends on Mon­day, July 3, 2023 at Trin­ity Lutheran Church, 140 N. 7th Ave., West Bend, from 9:30 a.m. until 10:45 a.m.   SER­VICE: A Cel­e­bra­tion of Life ser­vice in re­mem­brance of Geoff will be at 11 a.m.   In lieu of flow­ers, memo­ri­als in Geoff’s name are ap­pre­ci­ated. Do­na­tions can be made to the Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin Car­bone Can­cer Cen­ter: UW Foun­da­tion U.S. Bank Lock­box 78807 Mil­wau­kee, WI 53278-0807 or: https://​give.​wis​cmed​icin​e.​org/​give/​392780/#!/​donation/​checkout   Myrhum Pat­ten Fu­neral & Cre­ma­tion Ser­vice has been en­trusted with Geoff’s arrange­ments. Ad­di­tional in­for­ma­tion and guest book may be found at www.​myrhum-​patten.​com.