Viola Frey Clausnitzer’s

written “Celebration of Life”

Viola passed away on April 25, 2020 and, when we had a graveside funeral of 11 people, we expected to have a “celebration of life” at a later date. With the current conditions, we’ve decided to have a written tribute instead.

Viola was the second youngest of six children and raised in the town of Browning on Frey Road. They all attended Frey School. When she was just a youngster, she and, some or all, of her siblings (Oscar, Hilbert, Elinora, John W. and Ralph) were playing around a cement mixer and she got her finger caught in the gears and lost the tip of her middle finger on her right hand. This never seemed to slow her down. After that, she lived with others in the town of Medford to attend Medford High School from which she graduated in 1937. She worked for Jensen’s and then Bootzin’s in Medford and in 1940 married Robert “Stub” Clausnitzer. They lived in Milwaukee for a couple of years while Stub worked at Allis Chalmers. The rest of the time was spent in Medford. Together they owned and operated Clausnitzer Beverage Company. Stub did the “front” work and Viola did most everything else in the business as well as raising three children, Bob, Ruth Ann and Linda. She was one busy lady, but always had a great sense of humor, even when they had to “kill” her over-active thyroid in the 1960’s. They celebrated their 25th anniversary in 1965 and their 50th in 1990. It was right after their 50th when she had an eye removed due to cancer. Through all that, and with only one seeing eye, it never slowed her down. She bowled on the Neuendorf Bowling Team for many years and was a lifelong member of Immanuel Lutheran Church and the Ladies Aid Society.

After their retirement from the business, she worked at the Northside Tavern as a cook. She was always a good cook and this was a job she really enjoyed. Not everything she and Stub made at home was edible (in my opinion), like liver sausage, gritswurst and head cheese, but with their German ancestry, what can you expect.

Throughout their lives they enjoyed everything from card parties in the 1950’s to family get-togethers and BBQ’s in the 2000’s. Stub passed away on Oct, 25, 2010 and Viola entered the Medford Nursing Home in 2011, where we celebrated her 100th birthday in January of 2020.

Viola and her older sister, Elinora Brandner, had a lot in common. They referred to each other as “Ol” and “El”. Besides looking a lot alike, they had many of the same voice inflections, mannerisms and longevity. Elinora passed away in July, three months after Viola, at the age of 104. They’d been close all their lives and now together in death.

This is a synopsis of the life of a wonderful woman. If you visit her at the cemetery, she and Dad are located head to head, so she is buried behind the headstone.

Any collected money has been donated to Little Lambs at Immanuel Lutheran Church. We want to thank the Medford Nursing Home personnel that have tended to her needs over the last nine years. She was content there.

- The family of Viola Clausnitzer

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