Kathy Kay Laehn

The word AMAZING can only begin to describe Kathy. Amazing wife; amazing mom; amazing grandma; amazing sister; amazing friend; amazing community member. There's no question that the world is a better place because of Kathy (Anderson) Laehn!

She loved being married to Wally and celebrating forty-three anniversaries with him (July 8, 1967). She knew from the day she met him at Club 45 in Clintonville, that he was the one. She loved having picnics with him at Keller Lake, taking day trips to Clintonville, picking out a real Christmas tree with him every year, making him lemon meringue pies for his birthday, going to Brick's Supper Club with him on date nights, and raising three great children, whom they were both so proud to call their own.

She loved being a mom of three children: Ann (Scharenbroch), Jenny (Thompson), and Brian Laehn. When they were young, she loved sewing their clothes and stringing popcorn and cranberries at Christmastime. As they grew, she attended every school / sporting event and she always reminded them that they were representing the Laehn family before they left the house with their friends. A night never went by without tucking each of her kids in bed, telling them how proud she was of them and how much she loved them. She was there for every phone call home from college, and her listening ear always made her kids feel that everything was all right! As they grew into adults, she was a friend, a shopping partner, a source of great advice, but deep down, she was always their loving, caring, supportive mom!

She loved seeing her three children married to three wonderful spouses: Joe Scharenbroch, Andy Thompson, and Kristin (Petersen) Laehn. She loved that they all lived so close and that they loved coming over with their families for summertime cookouts, Packers parties, Thanksgiving feasts, and Christmas Eve / Day celebrations.

She loved being a grandma to her five (plus one) grandchildren: Julia Thompson (10), Amber Scharenbroch (9), Autumn Scharenbroch (7), Michael Thompson (7), Owen Laehn (3), and baby Evan Laehn (on the way in April). She loved making her specialty dish of chicken puffs, baking rhubarb pies, making strawberry jam, having sleepovers, and making special projects with all of them.

She loved spending time with her two sisters, Mary Moder and Rogene Buckowski, and her brother, Russell Anderson. Kathy loved planning and hosting the Anderson Christmas celebration every year, and she truly loved every member of the Anderson family.

She loved creating family traditions with her husband, children, and grandchildren: going strawberry picking in the summer, going to the Shawano Fair Labor Day weekend, going apple picking in the fall, watching the cranberries pop at Thanksgiving, and baking cookies for the annual Lighting of the Arboretum in Kimberly.

She was so proud of being a 1960 (8th grade) graduate of St. Rose School in Clintonville and a 1964 graduate of Clintonville High School! She always wore her Trucker beanie with pride and never missed a class reunion. She loved organizing St. Rose reunions at her house, visiting her grade school nuns, and reminiscing about all the great times growing up in Clintonville, Wisconsin.

Her favorite color was orange. She loved picnics. She loved working outside in her flowers. She enjoyed all her one day vacations with her best friend, her husband! And she loved that the Laehn house was a place where friends and family were always welcome.

Kathy wanted nothing more than to celebrate the holidays with her family. She passed away on Christmas night, with her husband and her three children, holding her hands and telling her how much they loved her.

– I hope I have touched as many lives as people I've known have touched mine. –

The world is a better place because Kathy (Anderson) Laehn touched so many lives.

The funeral liturgy for Kathy will be held at 11:00 on Thursday, December 30, 2010, at HOLY SPIRIT PARISH, 600 E. Kimberly Avenue in Kimberly with Fr. David Beaudry officiating. Interment will be in St. Rose Cemetery, Clintonville. Friends may call at the funeral home on Wednesday from 4:00 PM until 8:00 PM and again Thursday at the church from 10:00 AM until the hour of the mass. There will be a parish prayer and scriptures service at the funeral home at 7:30 PM Wednesday. In lieu of flowers, the family has established a memorial fund to honor Kathy�s memory.

Wichmann Funeral Home
537 N. Superior Street
Appleton, WI 54911
920-739-131