Lydia Goetsch

Lydia Florence Marie (nee Jaeger) Goetsch died at home in the Town of Berlin on September 3, 2024. She arrived on June 1, 1932, the fourth of six surviving children born to her farming parents, Albert and Hulda (nee: Delfs) Jaeger in the Town of Pine River. Lydia was baptized and confirmed at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, Pine River. As a girl, she and her siblings walked up the hill to the Miller Hill School, a one-room schoolhouse with a small library she read through several times. She hand-milked cows in one of the family barns with her father, morning and night, while her brother Butch (Norman) and her mother milked cows in the other barn. She finished school at Grade 8. One of her greatest regrets was not attending high school, being unable to do so since rural school buses hadn’t yet been introduced to bring the country kids into town. After graduating, she worked as a mother’s helper at a neighbor’s farm for a few years. At age 16, she moved to Merrill to work, rooming with her cousin, Millie Schleif. She attended vocational sewing school one day a week. She did factory piecework, first sewing fingers at the glove factory, followed by a time stamping out leather pieces to make footwear at the shoe factory. Her dad picked her up and brought her out to the farm every weekend for a little home cooking and time with the family.

Lydia met her sweetie, Jim Goetsch, roller skating at the Lakeview Ballroom in 1950. They were married, on the record-coldest day of the year, December 22, 1951, at Zion Lutheran Church, Town of Maine, followed by a party for family and friends in the new granary on the farm. Jim was called to serve in Korea, and after he returned home, the two of them settled in the Town of Maine where they raised three children and built a business together. They greatly enjoyed travelling in Europe and beyond with their friends. Jim and Lydia were active in Lutheran Laymen’s League and Orphan Grain Train. Lydia sewed quilts without number for OGT and Lutheran World Relief. In later years, Lydia enjoyed spending time with her children, grand and great grandchildren along with gardening, reading, Sudoku, and an occasional episode of Shark Tank. She always had fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies in the jar.

Lydia is survived by her husband, James Goetsch; son Kevin and daughter-in-law, Ann (nee Bartelt), grandchildren Kristy, Jeffrey, Jeremy and wife Kati, great -grandchildren Elise, James and Corrine; Jason and wife Cindy, great-grandchildren Amelia and Abigail; son Bruce and wife Yuliya (nee Rubashkina), grandchildren Sophia and Charles; daughter Conlynn and son-in-law Jonathan Strickland. She is predeceased by her parents Albert and Hulda; brother Milfred (sister-in-law Dorothy survives); sister Lucille (Marvin) Nass (Edward) Pophal; brother Norman and sister-in-law Lois; in-laws Elmer and Alma (nee Peterson) Goetsch. She is survived by her brother Dale and sister-in-law Ruth; and sister Caroline (Roger) Voigt (Elroy) Krause.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Lydia’s name to Orphan Grain Train Contact:cathy@brakebush.com / N4993 6th Drive, Westfield, WI 53964 / (608) 296-1543