Janice I. Raasch

Janice I. Raasch, 89, of Onalaska and formerly of Coon Valley died Wednesday September 6, 2017 at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse. She was born September 26, 1927 to Arthur and Edna (Lupie) Kuester. Janice graduated from Viroqua High School. She taught grades 1 to 4 at Neilsville before attending Dr. Martin Luther College where she graduated in 1948. She accepted a call to Hadar, Nebraska where she taught grades 1 - 8 from 1948 to 1950. Janice met her husband Raymond in Hadar and they were married June 12, 1949 at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Chaseburg. After the wedding they rode around in a manure spreader! They moved to La Crosse in 1951 and she accepted a call to 1st Lutheran School teaching grade 4 from 1951 to 1956 and again in the fall of 1959. In January 1960 she quit teaching to raise her family of 4 boys and 2 girls. Janice went back to school in 1968 and graduated from UW-La Crosse in 1973 with a degree in Elementary Education. She then accepted a call from Mt. Calvary Lutheran School in La Crosse where she taught for 20 years. She was a member of the Coon Valley American Legion Auxiliary.

She is survived by a son, Michael of Coon Valley; a daughter, Patricia (Laurence) Maestas of Onalaska; 7 grandsons and 7 great grandchildren; 2 sisters-in-law Phyllis Galstad of La Crosse and Nelda Raasch of Seattle, Wash.; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, Raymond on July 1, 2004; a brother, Wayne Kuester on October 12, 1991 and a sister, Annette Ihle on June 10, 2017; 2 foster sons and 1 foster grandson.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday September 11, 2017 at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church in Stoddard. Rev. Dan Olson will officiate with burial in St. Peter's Church Cemetery in Chaseburg. A visitation will be held on Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Seland Funeral Home in Coon Valley and at the church on Monday from 10 a.m. until service time. Online condolences may be offered at selandsfuneralhome.com. Memorials may be given to the Coon Valley Legion Auxiliary.