Viola S. Rengstorff

Viola Schoenmann Rengstorff, age 102, passed away on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 in Madison, Wisconsin.

The daughter of Herbert and Lucy (Hutter) Schoenmann, Viola was born on June 22, 1908 in Iowa County, Wyoming Valley, Spring Green, Wisconsin. She attended Hillside Valley School and Spring Green High School, graduating in 1925. She then attended Whitewater University and began teaching in a one-room rural school in Iowa County, saving her money for further studies. She next attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, earning a two-year certificate to teach in city schools. Following this, she taught in the South Milwaukee schools for nine years. On July 15, 1939, she married
Charles L. Rengstorff, and they settled in Madison where their sons Peter and John were born and raised. She later attended Edgewood College in Madison and obtained her B.S. degree in education in 1966.

During her years in Madison, Viola was a member of Blessed Sacrament Church and its Rosary Altar Society. She was also active in St. Mary's Auxiliary; the Madison Branch of the American Association of University Women, serving on its board for several years; the League of Women Voters; The Madison Symphony Orchestra League; the Madison Art League; and the Edgewood College Alumni Association.

During her sons' grade school and high school years she was active in PTA work, serving on their boards and as president of the Edgewood High School PTA for two years. She was also a member of the National Retired Teachers' Association, the Madison Civics Club, and Blackhawk Country Club. When her sons entered college, she returned to teaching fifth grade at Our Lady Queen of Peace School where she remained until her retirement in 1970.

After her husband's death on May 19, 1973, she assumed the management of the Rengstorff Poster Shop at 645 State Street for eleven years. She had served as its bookkeeper for thirty-eight years, dating from the time it was organized as a bookstore
by her husband in 1946 until selling the business in 1984.

During her retirement years she became a member of the American Contract Bridge League and played duplicate bridge. In 2008 she was awarded special recognition as a Golden Age Master of the American Contract Bridge League. In 1975 she organized the Spring Green High School 50-Year Alumni Club, serving as its president for three years.

Her hobbies were auditing classes for ten years at the University of Wisconsin and Edgewood College, photography, organizing memorabilia scrapbooks, reading, and traveling. During her spare time she wrote her autobiography.

She is survived by her two sons and daughters-in-law, Dr. Peter and Marilyn (Smith) Rengstorff, San Francisco, and John and Jeanie (James) Rengstorff, New York City; three grandsons, Juan, Ram, and Santiago, Santa Fe, New Mexico; her two sisters and a brother-in-law, Eleanor Rock, Spring Green, and Cherie and Al Buerosse, New Berlin; a
brother, Bill Schoenmann, Spring Green; two sisters-in-law, Jan Schoenmann, Spring Green, and Linda Schoenmann, Dodgeville, nephews, nieces, and extended family.

In addition to her husband and her parents, Viola was preceded in death by four sisters, two brothers, five brothers-in-law, and two sisters-in-law, Aurelia and Reuben Kritz, Vera and Art Larson, Evelyn and Fred Jones, Virginia and Ed Mite, Fred and Eileen Schoenmann, Robert Schoenmann, Gene Rock, and Marge Schoenmann; a niece, Frances Buehlman; a nephew, Tim Schoenmann; and a grand-niece, Jamie Lynn Kritz.

A memorial funeral Mass will be held at 11:00 am on Saturday, April 16, 2011 at BLESSED SACRAMENT CATHOLIC CHURCH, 2115 Rowley Ave., Madison, WI.

Memorials may be made to Blessed Sacrament School, Edgewood High School, Edgewood College, Our Lady Queen of Peace School, or HospiceCare Inc.