Katharine Joan Olski

Katherine Joan Olski (nee Williams) was born on December 19, 1930. She helped her mother, Laura, raise her younger siblings Louie, Pat and George Jr. She was the right-hand man to her father, George, in the family's little neighborhood store in Menasha.

She captivated Donald Walter Olski, a Neenah resident and the luckiest man in the world, and they raised seven children -- Susan, Michael, Mary, Peter, James, John and Lori -- on his pastor's salary. Katherine played the pump organ and the accordian. She worked as a waitress and at Sears. She made molasses oatmeal bread that pulled you in from the fields with its warm aroma.

And she went back to school, getting her master's degree and working with the adult education program at UW-Green Bay, often covering the 35-mile commute on her motorcycle. At the time when others are thinking of retirement, Katherine earned her Ph.D. She was the first woman on the Southern Door school board, serving six three-year terms and making even the most truculent Belgian farmer admit, "She weren't so bad, ainso?"

In her later years, Alzheimer's began to diminish her symphony of notes but to the end it still rang out with strong chords of courage, patience and good humor. She takes our love across the great divide to our Dad, who hopefully has spent the intervening 14 years learning how to dance. She deserves it.

Private family services will be held at a later date.