One
of only two great-grandparents I never met was Blanche Ethel Wittke. She was my mother’s maternal
grandmother. Blanche was born on 10
January 1908, in Clark County, Wisconsin to August Wittke, Junior and Ethel
Schummel. August was born in Illinois
and Ethel in Wisconsin. In the 1910
United States census, August, Ethel and Blanche were living in Pine Valley,
Clark, Wisconsin, where August was a farmer.
The
1920s saw a lot of change in Blanche’s life.
The 1920 US census shows her and her family living in Levis, Clark,
Wisconsin. Blanche is twelve years old
and is now joined by two year old sister Olga.
On 14 May 1924, at age sixteen, Blanche married my great-grandfather,
Carl Heinrich Sternitzky who was twenty-eight years old. They were married at the Mapleworks Lutheran
Church in Granton, Clark, Wisconsin.
Less than a year later, their first son, Duane, was born. Two more children were born in the 1920s –
Arlene in 1926 and Shirley in 1929.
According
to the 1930 census, Carl and Blanche were living in the township of Lynn,
Clark, Wisconsin. Carl was a farmer
while Blanche took care of the children.
The addition of three more children kept the household busy: Douglas was born in 1931, Patty (my
grandmother) in 1936, and finally, Donald in 1937. However, about six months after Donald was
born, Blanche left the family. Though I
do not know for sure, Blanche may have suffered from postpartum depression. She did say she was
overwhelmed having six children so young – she was not yet thirty when Donald
was born.
According
to her obituary, she moved to Rochester, Olmsted, Minnesota, in 1938 where she
was employed by a hospital. According to
my mother, Blanche worked in the dietary department. She remained employed there until her
retirement in 1970. The 1940 US census
shows Blanche living in Rochester with her new husband, Irving Payne. He is forty-nine years old (compared to her thirty-two
years) and he works in construction.
According to the census, Blanche is a maid in a private home. I do not know if she had this maid job before
working in the hospital or if she held both jobs for awhile.
I
do not know much about Blanche’s life after the 1940 census. I know she was married to Irving until his
death in 1962, but they had no children of their own. After her retirement in 1970 she moved to
Neillsville, Clark, Wisconsin. She
married Arnold Sternitzky on 10 January 1972 and in 1974 they moved to Fond du
Lac, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Blanche
lived there until her death on 10 July 1979 from an apparent heart attack. She is buried in Rochester with Irving.
I
do know that after leaving Carl, she sued for custody of her two youngest
children, but Carl retained custody of all of the children. She did reach out to her children while they
were growing up. The younger ones were
more receptive but maybe that is because she brought them candy! She was not always invited to family occasions,
in consideration to Carl, but as years went on, and grandchildren were added to
the mix, she was included more. The
grandchildren referred to her as Grandma Payne.
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