Barbola Funeral Chapel

Lois W. Harrison

Lois Wilda Harrison, age 99, of Poy Sippi, died peacefully on Thursday, September 5, 2024, at Juliette Manor in Berlin. She had recently celebrated 99 years of a well-lived life.

She was born at home on August 12, 1925, in the Township of Leon, WI, the youngest child of William and Iva Culver Wendt. Lois was Prom Queen her junior year and a 1942 graduate of Wild Rose High School. After her high school graduation, she and three girlfriends rented a cabin for a month on Little Silver just outside of Wild Rose. This summer’s “Over Fifty Reunion” marked 80 years since her graduation and reportedly perfect attendance at all her alumni reunions.

She was a life-long resident of Waushara County and often talked about taking the steamboat from Tustin down to Oshkosh for the day to shop with her mother and older sisters. Lois furthered her education at Waushara County Normal, becoming a schoolteacher. Her first teaching assignment was at Diamond School in Grand Marsh and later taught at Copenhagen School located on the Russell Harrison farm in Poy Sippi.

She met the love of her life when he was “haying” on her sister Margaret’s farm in Leon Township. She said she fell in love with him on her first date. He was so romantic. On July 19, 1947, she was united in marriage to Russell Harrison at Poy Sippi United Methodist Church. They honeymooned in Chicago, dancing in the Trianon Ballroom in Woodlawn, IL. The Trianon Ballroom broadcasted live on its own radio station until 1926, with the call letters of WMBB, the “World’s Most Beautiful Ballroom.” Lawrence Welk and his Champagne Orchestra, Jimmy Dorsey, Art Kasel and Wayne King were some of the big band leaders which regularly played at the Trianon. The Trianon was said to be able to accommodate up to 3,000 dancers at a single time on the main ballroom floor, which measured 100 by 140 feet. The venue also boasted of being one of the few air-conditioned facilities in all of Chicago. Lois loved to dance and often pointed out various places where ballrooms had been.

Lois and Russell raised two children, Jeanine and Bruce, on their dairy farm. She worked at Miles Kimball in Oshkosh and later cooked at the Senior Meal Center in Pickett. She was 92, cooking for “the old people”, when she finally stopped filling in for staff gone on vacation.

Lois was a devout Christian and active member in New Hope Church in Poy Sippi. She was a member of Waushara County Homemakers and a former local correspondent for the Waushara Argus. Lois was an avid bowler at Poy Sippi Lanes, on the Hahn-a-Lula Resort team. In 2024, she and her team finished in first place. Lois was a fan of the Milwaukee Brewers and tried to attend at least one home game every year in Milwaukee.

Fall was one of her favorite times of the year. She loved to take a drive just to see the autumn colors. On road trips, she would talk to anybody and everybody. Once at a 4-way stop in the middle of nowhere in the Grand Marsh area, she jumped out of the car to talk to a bus driver driving field workers stopped at the other stop sign. Soon, there were over a hundred people milling about and many cars and buses stopped at the intersection asking why everyone was stopped.

Her ultimate accomplishment was having perfected pie-making. Lois made them daily! Her pies were widely renowned and appreciated by anyone lucky enough to have received one. Her best were apple, raspberry and rhubarb, with the raspberries and rhubarb picked from her own garden. Lois dusted her pie crusts with sparkling white coarse sugar, before baking. You may have purchased her pies at the Poy Sippi Volunteer Fire Department Chicken Barbeque fundraisers. Her pie crust recipe is included here: Pie Crust 4 cups flour 2 tsp salt 1 ¾ cup vegetable shortening 1 T sugar 1 T vinegar 1 egg ½ cup cold water Using a fork, mix the first 4 ingredients. Beat the liquid ingredients. Combine the two mixtures. Makes 5 balls – 5 crusts.

She is survived by her son, Bruce Harrison (Rachelle Towne); three grandchildren, Samantha Kellogg, Ashley (Davy) Bright and Jordan Harrison, one great-grandchild, Royx Kellogg; and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and -nephews, and great-grandnieces and -nephews. She is further survived by her bowling team, Karen Knapwurst, Pam Able and Diane Warning; fellow members of her church; her hairdresser, Gail Timm; and friends, neighbors and residents of the village of Poy Sippi. She was everyone’s “second mother” or “grandmother”. Lois was preceded in death by her husband of 58 years, Russell Harrison, on September 23, 2005; daughter, Jeanine (William) Critchley; and her siblings, Verna (Art) Brey, Maragaret (Rudolph) Manske, Arden (Marge) Wendt, Marion (Lawrence) Baitenger and Ila Wendt Krause.

Memorial Services will be held on Thursday, September 12, at 11:00 a.m., at New Hope Church in Poy Sippi, with Rev. Becky Kindschi officiating. Inurnment will be in Poy Sippi Cemetery. A gathering of family and friends will be held on Wednesday, September 11, from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., at Barbola-Hempel Funeral Chapel in Poy Sippi, and on Thursday at the church one hour prior to the services. Memorials may be directed to Poy Sippi Volunteer Fire Department. Anyone wishing to send a sympathy card to the family, please mail to Lois Harrison, c/o Barbola-Hempel Funeral Chapel, PO Box 201, Poy Sippi, WI 54967.