Carl J. Vanden Wymelenberg

Carl Vanden Wymelenberg, age 90, formerly of Wrightstown, passed away on September 2, 2024, with family by his side. He was born in Wrightstown on August 25, 1934, to Elzear and Martha Vanden Wymelenberg. Carl attended school in Wrightstown, St. Norbert College (De Pere) and graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering at Marquette University (Milwaukee). He was enrolled in ROTC and served two years in the US Army. 

Carl started his thirty-year career in California with AC Delco in aerospace engineering where he helped design rockets and assemblies used in the NASA Apollo space program culminating with the Lunar Rover. Carl then moved to Ohio and enjoyed working at Packard Electric, a General Motors company that designed and manufactured automobile harnesses. 

Carl married Marilyn Weyers in 1957. In their 39 years of marriage, they raised three children, moving about, with summer vacations spent happily traveling the national parks in the family camper. Carl retired at age 56 so he and Marilyn were able to RV in the south until Marilyn died from brain cancer in 1996. 

On a trip to Texas to get away from the cold, Carl met Marcia through friends. Marcia had also lost her spouse. Marcia and Carl have been married 27 years and have lived in Texas, Wisconsin and Iowa. Carl and Marcia loved traveling in their RV, playing guitar, singing, golfing and fishing. They spent five months each year at their lake home in Crandon, Wisconsin and loved having family and friends come to ski, fish and enjoy lake life. Marcia and Carl enjoyed their Iowa summers visiting Marcia’s family and watching Maddox and Huxley play baseball.

Carl is survived by his wife Marcia Vanden Wymelenberg; daughter Christine (Drew) Weber; son Joe (Lisa Walton) Vanden Wymelenberg; son Mark Vanden Wymelenberg; stepdaughter Tina Newbury (Scott Farley); sister Bernice Geurts; sister Charlene and her husband Sy Giesen; grandchildren: Laura Weber (Myles Akin), Lisa (Giulliano) Rodriguez, Andrew Weber (fiancé Allison Basinger), Juliana (Stephen) Meder, Rebecca Walton (fiancé Joseph Zapata), Ella Vandenberg; step-grandchildren: Emilie (Mark) Reha, Nick (Steph) Newbury, Max (Ellie) Newbury; great-grandson Otto Rodriguez; step-greatgrandchildren: Maddox Reha, Huxley Reha, Grayson Newbury; his many in-laws: Bonnie Vanden Wymelenberg, Carol Gutkowski, Paul and Connie Weyers, Joe and Ginny Weyers, Dot Weyers, Jean Andreasen, Gerald Waalk, John and Diane Waalk. 

He was preceded in death by parents Elzear and Martha (Lamers) Vanden Wymelenberg, his first wife Marilyn, sister Donna Pritzl, brothers Dick Vanden Wymelenberg and Father Marlyn Vanden Wymelenberg. Also, in-laws: Florent Geurts, Victor Pritzl, Herman and Clara Weyers, Ellarita and Don Weber, Don and Gayle Weyers, Marguerite and Francis Dorsey, Dick and Mary Weyers, Gordy Weyers, Axel Andreasen and Linda Waalk. 

Carl’s Visitation in Hollandtown at St. Francis Church will be September 12th from 9:00 AM until 11:00 AM, with mass at 11:00; Father Mark Rydell and Father Carl Meulemans will officiate, and burial will be in the Parish Cemetery following Mass. 

In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund has been established to benefit Grace Estate Adult Day in Waukee, Iowa, where Carl enjoyed time this summer.