Hazel Kohlhaas

Waukesha/Whitewater – Hazel Kohlhaas age 100 died October 22, 2010 at Hearthstone in Whitewater. Born December 30, 1909 to Vernon County farmers Charles and Mary Zietlow, Hazel was the sixth of eight children. As a nine year old she watched “the boys” march off to World War I, and decided to become a nurse while helping to care for seven sick relatives during the flu pandemic of 1918-19. She graduated from Norwalk High School and Luther Hospital School of Nursing in Eau Claire. In the mid1930’s Hazel moved to Genesee Depot to serve as the registered nurse and office manager for her brother Fred who was a physician. There she met Otto Kohlhaas whom she married in 1936. A woman of great energy and ambition, she canned and froze great volumes of vegetables and fruits from Otto’s huge garden. After his death in 1984, she continued the gardening and canning until she was 92, even though she was convinced he would not approve of her slightly crooked rows and an occasional weed here and there. She loved cooking and entertained often. Having done private duty nursing in the 1950’s, she then took a nursing refresher course and began at age 50, a full time nursing job at the Waukesha County Home. A people person, she loved the patients and her coworkers even though they soon learned she was a tough taskmaster. When in her old age, she moved to Hearthstone, she like it immediately because she knew the routine and as her memory declined she said, “I took care of lots of people like me.” In addition to her homemaking activities and her caring for the sick, either relatives in her home or those she served in the community, Hazel was a practicing Christian displaying in her life a healthy dose of Old Testament belief in “the law” (right was right and wrong was wrong) but she lived mostly a New Testament life serving and forgiving all those she loved, those she took care of, and many others in between. For her entire one hundred years Hazel was a churchwoman, having been an Evangelical, an Evangelical United Brethren, a United Presbyterian and a United Methodist. She especially enjoyed attending Women’s Schools of Mission during the 1950’s and early 1960’s. Hazel is survived by a daughter Caroline Wieman, a son Charles (Joan) Kohlhaas, two granddaughters Sarah (Peter) Anderson and Mary Wieman; two step-grandsons Robert (Amy) Anderson and Marc (Jodi) Anderson, one great granddaughter Abigail Anderson, and five step-great grandchildren Mara, Emily, Luke, Liam and Graham Anderson. She was preceded in death by her husband Otto, her son-in-law Charles Wieman, her seven siblings: Carl, Arthur, Herbert, Fredrick Zietlow; her sisters Mabel Lindahl, Severa Schamens, Clara Williams and their spouses as well as her husband’s brothers and sisters and their spouses. Visitation will be held from 4:00 PM until 7:00 PM on Monday, October 25, at Randle-Dable Funeral Home, 1110 S. Grand Ave., Waukesha, WI. A second visitation will be held on Tuesday, October 26 from 9:30 AM until the 11:00 AM funeral service at Salem United Methodist Church, 541 Hwy 59, Waukesha. Burial will follow at Highland Memorial Park. Memorials may be made to Hearthstone, 426 W. North St., Whitewater, WI 53190, to First United Methodist Church, 145 S. Prairie St., Whitewater, WI 53190, or to the charity of the donor’s choice. For further information, please call Randle-Dable Funeral, Cremation and Preplanning Services at (262) 547-4035, or go to www.waukeshafunerals.com for directions or to leave an on-line tribute.