THERESA WENDA

Theresa “Baba” Wenda entered eternal life on Wednesday morning on July 24th, 2019 at the age of 85. Theresa passed away unexpectedly in her beloved home. She was born on September 3rd, 1933 in Chojnice, Poland to Franciszka Pradzynska and Stanislaw Pelowski and was one of eight children.

She survived the German occupation and later went to school to become a teacher. She married her husband, “King” Arthur Wenda of Germany in 1963 in Poland. Arthur had moved to America in 1959 and Theresa joined him in 1963. They settled in Neenah, Wisconsin where they would go on to spend the rest of their lives. Theresa raised three children while also working as a caretaker and seamstress, but was most proud of career at Kimberly Clark. She started out cleaning and quickly promoted to quality assurance technician in the diaper testing lab. She retired in 1995.

Theresa is survived by her dear sister, Elzbieta, along with the many children and grandchildren of her brothers and sisters in Poland; daughter Zita (Chris Mayer) Wenda and granddaughters Jamie and Emily of Appleton, Wisconsin; son Arthur (Laura) Wenda and grandchildren Sara, Alexis, Cole, Erik and Olivia of Atlanta, Georgia; and daughter Marianne Lading and first granddaughter Madeline (Jared) Jahnke of Neenah, Wisconsin. She is preceded in death by her husband Arthur; her parents; and her siblings Bonifacy, Felicja, Franek, Jerzy, Krystyna and Zygmunt.

Theresa lived every day to its fullest and loved God with all of her heart. She and her husband were lifelong members of St Gabriel's Catholic Parish. Throughout her life, she hosted many parties and loved to entertain. She was a wonderful cook and showed love through food. She traveled to Poland many times and was fluent in both Polish and English. She loved reading, writing, collecting jokes and articles, and telling stories. Theresa also enjoyed sewing, gardening, planting flowers and working outside. She loved “making pictures” and created decades worth of photo albums filled with memories of her family, friends, travels, animals and nature. Her last vacation was in June of this year, when she flew to Key West with her entire family for a wedding.

The family would like to recognize several of Theresa's special friends—Irina, a roommate from her college dormitory in Poland; Nick and Alina “Basa” Scharko and their family; the Sommerfeld family; and Melody and David Vanderkolk.

Theresa was known to many as Mother Theresa, Mamula, Mrs, and most of all—Baba. Baba touched the lives of everyone she met and will always be remembered for her generosity, humor, joyful spirit and unconditional love. Baba—we thank you for sharing your life, love and laughter with us. Love always, your family. God bless.

The Funeral Mass for Theresa will be held at 11:30 am on Tuesday, July 30, 2019 at St. Gabriel Catholic Church, 900 Geiger Street, Neenah. A visitation will be held at the chruch from 9:30 am until the hour of the service. Entombment will take place at Greenlawn Memorial Park Mausoleum in Neenah. In lieu of flowers, a memorial is being established.