Jeanette A. Karlen
Jeanette A. Karlen (nee Lutz), 94, Stevens Point, died Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, at Portage County Health Care Center.
A memorial Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018, at Holy Spirit Parish, 838 Fremont St., Stevens Point. The Rev. Tom Lindner will officiate. Burial will follow at St. Stephen’s Catholic Cemetery. Visitation will be from 9 a.m. until the time of services at Holy Spirit Parish.
Memorials in her name may be made to Holy Spirit Parish and Pacelli Catholic Schools.
Online condolences may be offered at www.bostonfuneralhome.net.
She was born April 13, 1923, at the home of her parents Irwin and Verona Lutz on Church Street in Stevens Point. She graduated from St. Joseph Catholic School and later from P.J. Jacobs High School in 1941. After high school, she was employed as a telephone operator at Wisconsin Bell Telephone Co.
She was married to Edwin H. Karlen Sept. 12, 1942, in Stevens Point. The
couple moved to Fremont where he worked as a cheesemaker. Later, they lived in Pulaski, where she worked clerking in a grocery store.
While Edward was in the Army, she moved to Evanston, Ill., where she waited tables at Cooley’s Kitchen. After the war ended, she returned to Stevens Point, where the couple reunited.
In 1951, the couple began their family, and she became a fulltime homemaker. She enjoyed cooking, baking and being a seamstress.
She was a self-taught pianist and organist and loved creating medleys and playing favorite songs. She enjoyed occasional travel with her husband and enjoyed visits and time with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She volunteered with various community groups, including Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Meals on Wheels.
Survivors include two sons, Paul, Waukesha, and Thomas (Annette Glodowski), Stevens Point; two daughters, Nancy (David Brosemann), Orofino, Idaho, and Joan (Jack Hurrish), Stevens Point; six grandchildren, Andrew, Las Vegas, John (Margaret) Chicago, Ill., Anna Petersen, Ottawa, Ontario, Emily Petersen, Brooklyn, N.Y., Jacklyn (Taylor Heinlein), St. Paul, Minn., and Rubia (Mitch) Ryce, Stevens Point; four great-grandchildren; daughter- in-law, Candyce Sturtz Karlen; and one sister, Leone Ingles.
She was preceded in death by her husband; a daughter, Mary; an infant son, John; and a sister, Norma Fleihr.
The family would like to thank Marcia McDonald and the staff at Portage County Health Care Center and Heartland Hospice for their care.