Lula O. Henne

PORTAGE - The sun is shining a little less brightly today. Lula Henne, 107, passed away peacefully at Remington House in Pardeeville on Saturday, June 20, 2009.

Lula, the daughter of Fred and Ida Lipke, was born at home in Waushara County's Deerfield Township. In 1921 she married Frank Henne of Wautoma; the couple relocated to Portage in 1924. Both Lula and Frank were employed at Weinberg Shoe Co. Always a hardworking woman, Lula also took in boarders, cooked for various Portage establishments, and made room for family members and friends. She and her sisters Laura (Mrs. Walter Dunn), Lona (Mrs. Walter Hutler), and Lillian (Mrs. Herbert Lachelt) would go on to become part of Portage's Depression-era history. Both Lula and Frank also worked for several years at what is now Columbia Health Care Center in Wyocena.

She is survived by her best friend, her daughter, Irene (Mrs. Robert Zastrow), Portage; her beloved granddaughter and grandson-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Vernon (Barbara) Hockerman of Pewaukee; and several generations of nieces and nephews who loved her dearly.

Lula was a special person who always had room in her heart and at her table for someone who needed her unique brand of support and kindness.

Curious and always up for adventure, Lula traveled extensively throughout the United States, often with her daughter and son-in-law. Her family enjoyed telling stories of the various plants from around the country that she "smuggled" home and raised successfully in Irene's backyard. She was especially fond of the Arizona and New Mexico areas of the Southwest, where she and Frank spent time following their retirement.

"Lulie," a longtime member of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Portage and of Deerfield Lutheran Church in Hancock, was preceded in death by her husband, Frank; her parents, Fred and Ida; her brothers, Gerhardt, Wilhelm, George and Henry; sister-in-law, Bonnie Lipke; brothers-in-law; her son-in-law; and her very special friends, her sisters, Laura, Lona, Lillian and Louella.

Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. John's Lutheran Church in Portage with the Rev. Alan Boeck officiating. Inurnment will be held at Silver Lake Cemetery. Friends may call at the church Wednesday from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Picha Funeral Home, Portage, is assisting the family.

The family would like to thank the staff of Remington House and Dr. Susan Strain; the many school children who remembered Lula on her birthdays; and the numerous former neighbors and friends who inquired about and visited her. And now, as Lulie would say, "Where are we going for breakfast?"