Mabel Mae Spranger, 97, Wisconsin Rapids, mother of a Plover
man, died Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016, at The Waterford in Wisconsin Rapids.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 15, at St. James Catholic Church in Vesper, with the Rev. Robert
Nelson officiating. Burial will be at St. James Parish Cemetery in Vesper.

Visitation will be at Herman-Taylor Funeral Home in
Wisconsin Rapids from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 14, and at the church from 9:30 a.m.
Tuesday until the Mass.

Memorials may be designated to St. James Catholic Church or
the Family Center Inc. of Wisconsin Rapids.

Condolences may be offered online at
www.taylorfuneralhome.net.

Mrs. Spranger was born April 8, 1919, in Wonewoc in Juneau
County, a daughter of the late James “Earl” and Ellen (Nyeggen) Tracy. She
attended kindergarten at Hillsboro Grade School and then moved with her family
to Rudolph in 1924. She attended school in Rudolph and graduated from Rudolph
High School in 1937.

She moved to the Chicago area to work for a short time in
1937 before returning to take care of her siblings after her mother’s death in
1938.

She was married to Harvey A. Spranger July 11, 1939, at St.
Philip Catholic Church in Rudolph. He died Jan. 24, 1994.

While raising her family, she was employed at the Vesper
Grade School, local cranberry marshes, Montgomery Wards, Central State
Telephone Co., Furniture Barn and as a school bus driver.

She served on the Wood County Aging Advisory, Commission of
Aging, Northern Area Agency on Aging, Wisconsin Coalition of Aging, State of
Wisconsin Aging Advisory Council and was appointed to the Wisconsin Coalition
of Aging Intergenerational Committee in 1999. She was also active in the United
Way, American Cancer Society, fund drives, Wood County Nutrition Council and
Catholic Daughters of America.

Survivors include two daughters, Betty (Robert) Weidner,
Sweet Home, Ore., and Bonita (John) Benschoter, St. Cloud, Minn.; three sons,
Thomas (Cindy) Spranger, Plover, and Anthony (Kathy) Spranger and Michael
(Dawn) Spranger, both of Wisconsin Rapids; 18 grandchildren; 43
great-grandchildren; and 13 great-great-grandchildren.

She was also preceded in death by one daughter, Donna
Vruwink; one sister, Fern Jepson; four brothers, Martin, Herbert, Robert and
James Tracy; and two grandchildren.