September 2021

When I was little, my parents used to stay up late with their friends, drinking wine and watching the fireflies zip across the dark fields below as they talked about very important, very grown up topics. I would catch snippets of their conversations from the top of the stairs or through my bedroom window.

“Iran Contra!”

“Embryo Transplant!”

“Dan Quayle… spelling bee… potato!”

I didn’t know what they were talking about, but it all sounded exotic and significant. I wished I could stay up late, through the night, to hear what they had to say.

Today, I am the age they were then, and I can assure you that if you eavesdrop on ANY adult conversation you will simply hear a groggy person with an uninteresting job listing all the foods they think they might be allergic to. That, apparently, is what passes for enlightened conversation these days.

“I can’t digest dairy,” I said to someone not long ago.

CHICAGO, IL–Ann (Faherty) Peckham, age 95, passed away on Feb. 9, 2020. She was born on June 30, 1924, in Chicago, IL, to Roger and Eliza (Kilman) Faherty. On Aug. 28, 2021, three generations of family gathered for a memorial and celebration of her life. She was laid to rest in accordance with her wishes in her family plot at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago. Ann was remembered through the words of her written memoirs and for her legacy of community service and political activism in Wisconsin.

Ann attended the Girls Latin School in Chicago for 10 years and graduated from The Knox School for Girls in Cooperstown, NY. Returning to Chicago in 1942, she entered St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing. After marriage and motherhood, Ann was active in politics with the Dane County GOP and later the Wisconsin Republican Party. She was a delegate to the 1976 and 1980 conventions and received the Wisconsin Women’s Political Caucus award in 1977, 1980 and 1995.

MARSHALL–Ms. Doris Maier,85, of Marshall, passed away on July 8, 2021, with family by her side.

Doris was born on July 21, 1935, to George and Lena (Laufenberg) Wagner in Middleton. On August 12, 1954, she married Army Staff Sgt. Earl William Maier, the son of Mathias M. and Susanna (Susan) Rose (Maerz) Maier, at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Ashton, and later they had a honeymoon trip to Niagara Falls, NY and Canada.

The couple first farmed outside of Westport, and then in 1969 they moved to Marshall where they resided and farmed for many years.

Doris’ enjoyments were with her family, the farm, and reading whenever she could. She was a gentle, loving person always willing to listen to her children’s and grandchildren’s concerns with the promise they would be in her prayers.

WAUNAKEE–Carrie S. Munz, 62, of Waunakee, passed away on Aug. 25, 2021, as she took her final ride on her broomstick across the sky. She was born Aug. 9, 1959, in Madison, to Robert Munz and Anna Mae Gallagher. She was one of seven children, and to say that neither her family nor the world were prepared for her arrival is truly a testament to her character.

Many words could be used to describe to her. Spirited and strong willed, a hilarious firecracker of a woman with a wild sense of humor, she was as vibrant as she was complicated. She was as human as the rest of us, and to know her was to know her warmth as well as the storms she carried with her.