Obituary of Diane Barbara Spangler

DIANE BARBARA SPANGLER, 78, passed away at home on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014. Born Jan. 20, 1936, in Fond du Lac to Harold "Pete" and Agnes (Kohlman) Gutreuter, she attended St. Joseph Catholic School in Fort Atkinson and graduated from Fort Atkinson High School in 1953. She then worked a year at St. Vincent's Orphanage in Chicago. Diane married Paul S. Spangler on Sept. 18, 1954, in Fort Atkinson, and they made their home on his family's Town of Farmington farmstead south of Johnson Creek. He passed away in 1994. She was employed as a seamstress at St. Coletta's Alverno for 20 years, retiring in 1996. She served as a volunteer chaperone for Able Trek Tours, traveling with special needs clients near and far, including Branson, Mo.; Disney World and Niagara Falls. Diane enjoyed quilting, gardening in her flowerbeds, playing cards and Scrabble, taking furniture restoration and caning classes, traveling, reading, and spending time with family and friends. She loved cooking, as well as sewing holiday outfits for her children when they were young. Diane also was a high school basketball fan, taking vacation days each March so she could watch all the state tournament games. She was a member of the Quilters on the Rock and the Velcro Sisters (so named because "we stick together"), and she formerly belonged to the Piecemakers Quilt Guild. She attended the American Quilter's Society annual show in Paducah, Ky., for many years. Diane belonged to a euchre club for more than four decades, regularly played mahjong, and enjoyed Tuesday afternoon poker at the Johnson Creek Senior Center. A member of the Red Hat Society, she served as a volunteer and board of directors member of the Society of St. Vincent De Paul in Lake Mills. She was a member of St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church in Johnson Creek and its Daughters of Mary. Longtime bazaar raffle chairperson, Diane headed the church's Farewell Committee that plans and serves funeral dinners, from 1963 until her passing. Diane co-managed the Jefferson County 4-H Leaders Association kitchen at the Jefferson County Fair Park Activity Center for many years. While her children were young, she was a Jefferson Boosters 4-H Club leader. She is survived by her nine children, Peter (Christine) Spangler, Fort Atkinson; Jill Hanus, Watertown; Lynn (José "Robert" Curruchich) Spangler de Curruchich, Waukesha; Mary (Eugene) Mess, Watertown; Michael (Tracey Kolesar) Spangler, Marshfield; Amy Spangler, Johnson Creek; Lisa Spangler, Milwaukee; Kristin (Don) Grant, Jefferson; and Matthew (Stephanie) Spangler, West Allis. Also, 18 grandchildren, Craig Hanus, Watertown; Aaron Hanus, Frisco, Texas; Amy Curruchich, West Allis; Monica Curruchich, Veronica Karina Curruchich and Elizabeth Curruchich, all of Waukesha; Heidi (Justin) Dunker, Oronoco, Minn.; Brian (Amy) Mess, Hugo, Minn.; Emily Hale, Sun Prairie; Alex Mess, Eau Claire; Heather (Jamie) Jeske, Marshall; Ashley Marietti, Layton, Utah; Hannah Spangler, Marshfield; Alejandro Curruchich, Johnson Creek; Amir Spangler, Milwaukee; Jaime Grant, Jefferson; Analise Spangler and Roman Spangler, both of West Allis; and nine great-grandchildren, Ariana Eilbes, Abel Wallace, Adalynn and Bryce Dunker, Kennedy, Jack and Zander Mess, and Adam and Joe Hale. She further is survived by two brothers-in-law, Cyril (Bev) Spangler, Watertown, and Jim (Phyllis) Spangler, Jefferson; two sisters-in-law, Mary Ann Spangler (Dennis Langbecker), Lake Mills, and Sally (Larry) Soltis, Mount Horeb; and many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. She was preceded in death by her husband, Paul; brother, Keith Gutreuter; grandson, Eric Mess; and brother-in-law, Gerald Spangler. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, at St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church in Johnson Creek, with Father David Wanish officiating. Friends may call from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday at the Schneider-Michaelis Funeral Home in Jefferson, where the Rosary will be recited at 7 p.m., and at the church from 10 a.m. until the time of service. Private burial of cremains will take place at the St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery in Fort Atkinson at a later date. Memorials, if desired, may be made to the St. Vincent De Paul Society in Lake Mills or Rainbow Hospice Care. Visit www.schneidermichaelisfuneralhome.com to leave a condolence or light a candle in her memory.