Betty Pluemer

Betty L. Pluemer of Potosi, WI passed away peacefully at Grant Regional Health Center on December 5, 2022. A Betty Pluemer Memorial Fund has been established. Online condolences may be made at www.melbyfh.com. A funeral mass for Betty and her husband, Eldon, will be celebrated at St. Andrew Catholic Church, Tennyson, on Saturday, December 10, 2022 at 11:00 a.m., with visitation from 9:00 a.m. until time of service. Burial will be at St. Andrew's Catholic Cemetery. The Melby Funeral Home & Crematory, Platteville, is serving the family.

Betty was born August 8, 1930 in Plain, Wisconsin, to Harold and Bernadette (Klar) Blindert. She married her high school sweetheart, Eldon Pluemer on May 23, 1950 at St. Andrew Catholic Church, Tennyson. In May 2021 they celebrated 71 years of marriage. Eldon and Betty raised eight children: Gail (Chuck) Steiner, Pam (Mark) Walsh, Anjie (Troy) Newell, Becky (Jim Hutchins), David, Brian (Stacey), Jerarda/Jody (Mark) Bartels, and Jill (Dave) Lynn.

Betty graduated from the former St. Andrew Catholic School in 1948. During high school, Betty worked at the Walsh Store, Tennyson. Following her graduation, Betty worked at the Dubuque Packing Company until starting her family. Betty was a homemaker, taking care of the children while Eldon worked at John Deere. Betty later waitressed at the Dugout Supper Club, Dickeyville, and tended bar at various local taverns. Betty also surprised her children after school one day by announcing, “Ding dong, Avon calling” when she started her Avon business, which she ran for many years.

Mom was first and foremost, a wife and mother, always putting the family first, as evidenced by always taking the burnt toast, cooking what she despised such as venison, rabbit, squirrel, and the dreaded liver and onions that Dad liked so much. She was rarely in the foreground, always supporting from the background.She put the dogs out of their misery when Dad wouldn't or couldn't, she kept Dad and her brothers in line when they got in trouble, which, by the photos, was often and not an easy task. She had a fun side, such as spinning donuts in the school parking lot when taking players home after basketball practice, or gunning the snowmobile to give us an extra thrill.

Betty, Eldon and the family camped often at the Grant River Park in Potosi, and they also loaded the family of eight children in the station wagon for a summer vacation to South Dakota. They were among the first members of the local Mississippi Bluff Riders Snowmobile Club.

Eldon and Betty were avid card players and square dancers. They enjoyed camping, hunting, fishing, snowmobile riding, and boating. She was a Cub Scout leader. She taught the children, grandchildren, and even recently some of the great-grandchildren to play cards. When questioned about teaching the grandchildren to play dice games, Betty remarked, “I'm teaching them to count.”

Eldon and Betty volunteered countless hours at the Tennyson Ball Diamond, helping prepare the field and with concessions. Eldon and Betty also volunteered at many church and school events.

For many years, Eldon and Betty traveled to the John Deere Village in central Florida, spending several weeks of the winter in the Florida sunshine, rather than Wisconsin's cold and snow. After the JD Village closed, they purchased their own home at Sun Lake Retirement Village in Grand Island, Florida, where they spent approximately six months each year in their home on the Sun Lake Golf Course, enjoying time golfing, playing shuffleboard, biking, and playing cards with friends from all over the country.

Betty was a devoted member of St. Andrew-Thomas Catholic Parish. While Betty did not necessarily share Eldon's love of the Green Bay Packers, she was an avid Milwaukee Brewers fan.

Betty is also survived by 17 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren, sister, Ann Klein, and brothers, Carl, Harry and Doug (Pat) Blindert, sisters-in-law Jan Duve and Jackie Blindert, and many nieces and nephews. Betty was preceded in death by her husband Eldon, infant daughters, JeanAnn and Peggy, her parents, parents-in-law, Alphonse and Angela Pluemer, step-father Herbert (Duckey) Besler, step-mother-in-law Mae Pluemer, brother Bernard, brothers and sisters-in-law Arnold and Ruth Blindert, Vernon and Carol Blindert, JoAnn and Bob Smith, sister and brother-in-law Lucy and Harold Faherty, brothers-in-law Al Duve and Francis Klein, brother- and sister-in-law George and Marie Pluemer, and sisters-in-law Priscilla, Dorothea and Shirley Blindert