Cora Ann Haugli

Cora Ann Haugli

October 15, 2025

Cora Ann Haugli, née Roycraft, died at home on October 15, 2025, a few miles from where she was born and raised in Chippewa Falls in April 1938. She was 87 years old.

She was preceded in death by parents, Cora (Gillette) and John Roycraft; and her sister, Carol Zwolanek. Her beloved husband, Gordon, passed away late last year, and she spent the last months of her life reading, listening to music, cooking delicious meals and enjoying the company of family members and neighbors, always with a big smile on her face.

After graduating from Chi-Hi as valedictorian in 1956, she put herself through school working at Northern States Power Company and earned a degree in elementary education at Wisconsin State College at Eau Claire, later UW-Eau Claire.

Cora met Gordy on a blind date and later said there was no question they would share a life together. As he finished up his service in the Air Force and found early work as an airplane mechanic, she worked at Northern Wisconsin Colony and Training School. They married in 1961 and moved to Minnesota briefly and lived in several other places, mostly southeastern Wisconsin, until returning north in 2004.

While Gordy followed his career as a pilot, Cora dedicated herself to their home and three children. She worked as a teachers aide and later as a clerk at various local libraries. She sang soprano in the Waukesha Choral Union and led the church choir at First Congregationalist Church of Mukwonago. She was active in the Village Players there and, as a talented seamstress, sewed many elaborate costumes.

At age 50, she earned her master's degree in library science at UW-Milwaukee, afterward serving as a full-time children's librarian in Kenosha until she retired.

Like Gordy, Cora was known for her generosity and ability to befriend strangers. Her spirited personality and resistance to life's challenges big and small belied her ultimate openness to everyone she encountered. As an avowed chronic worrier, her concern for the well-being of others extended to her last day.

Cora is survived by three children and a son-in-law, two grandchildren, multiple nieces and nephews and three sisters, Mary Jane Ryan-Webster of Rice Lake, Wisc., Ellen Alm of Gladstone, Mich., and Kathryn Rykal of Eau Claire, Wisc.

A simple service will be held starting at 10 a.m., Saturday, November 1, 2025, at Pederson-Volker Funeral Chapel, Chippewa Falls followed by a reception with a light lunch elsewhere.

Donations in her honor should be made to the William Irvine Endowment Fund in support of Irvine Park at the Community Foundation of Chippewa County https://www.yourlegacyforever.org/funds/fund.phtml?name=William+Irvine+Endowment+Fund, the Heyde Center for the Arts https://www.cvca.net/ or Friends of the Chippewa Falls Public Library https://www.chippewafallslibrary.org/friends-of-the-library/

Pederson-Volker Funeral Chapel & Cremation Services, Chippewa Falls is serving the family. Please share your memories or condolences online at pedersonvolker.com.