Janice “Jan” Frommelt
Janice “Jan” Lorraine Frommelt, 93, of Guttenberg, passed away on Thursday, February 5, 2015 at the Guttenberg Care Center.
Jan was born February 10, 1921 in Guttenberg to Horace “Jack” and Josephine (Wenkstern) Dubbels. Jan enjoyed playing the tuba and basketball in her years at Guttenberg High School. She graduated as valedictorian in 1938. Shortly after graduation Jan started working three days a week at the Guttenberg Press, a place that became her second home for almost 37 years. She retired from the Press in 2005 due to ill health.
Jan met her future husband on a steamboat when he offered to carry her sousaphone home after a river excursion. On December 14, 1945, she was married to 1st Lt. Clifford Frommelt in the Army Chapel at Camp Carson, Colorado. Due to wounds Mr. Frommelt sustained in France during World War II, the couple lived in several different states for care in military hospitals. The couple returned to Guttenberg in August 1947 where Mr. Frommelt owned & operated Cliff’s Cash Toggery for many years before passing away on March 8, 1967.
Jan was a lifelong member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and was church council secretary for over 30 years. She was an active member of the Guttenberg Book Club and the Guttenberg Municipal Hospital Auxiliary. In earlier years, she served as a leader with 4-H and the Girl Scouts. Jan was a skilled seamstress, making many garments for herself and her family. She enjoyed crocheting, reading and flower gardening. She was a music lover, being most fond of Dixieland Jazz and Big Band music. Some of her most memorable times were spent traveling across the country to attend Sixth Armored Division Reunions although the most important pastime for Jan was spending time with her family.
Jan chose to make the Guttenberg Care Center her home in 2010 where the staff truly became her extended family.
Jan is survived by her three children, Karen (Frommelt) and Robert Sudmeier of Dubuque, IA, children—Jeff and Molly Sudmeier, and great-granddaughter Eleanor, Michael and Anne Sudmeier, Abbie and Joel Nilles; Gary and Connie Frommelt of St. Louis, MO, children—Christian, Rose, Anton; and Jane (Frommelt) and Steven Staebler of Guttenberg, IA, children—Docker, Jasmine, Jaderial; sister-in-law, Mrs. Bud (Claire) Frommelt. Janice was preceded in death by her husband Cliff, sister and brother-in-law Leonette (Frommelt) and Raymond Duwe, brother Kermit and sister-in-law Beverly Dubbels and her brother-in-law Claude “Bud” Frommelt.
Arrangements were handled by Tuecke-Allyn Funeral Home, Guttenberg, IA where the family received friends from 4-8 p.m., Saturday, February 7, 2015. Funeral services were held at St. Paul Lutheran Church Guttenberg, IA, at 1:30 p.m, Sunday, February 8, 2015, with the Rev. Shane Anderson officiating. Interment was at Mt. Olivet Catholic Cemetery, Guttenberg, IA.