Interview by Anabelle Stravinski, Confirmand

Kathy Boebel was born in Madison, Wisconsin, started school in a country school in Milwaukee, and then moved to downtown Windsor for her father’s work. She later moved to Sun Prairie. She was taught in one classroom with 8 other grades in her first country school. She was the only 1st grader in her school. When she moved to Sun prairie she was in 2nd grade, where she was amazed to see there was more than just her in her 2nd grade class. Everyday for school, she would walk a mile there and a mile home, however she was involved in multiple school activities so she wasn’t home very often. She lived in a multigenerational home.  This means she lived with her mother, father, grandma, grandpa, and older sister. Her father worked as a farmer salesman, but later got his license for selling homes and became a realtor. Her mother didn’t really leave the house and stayed at home taking care of her family. She has 2 children (one girl and one boy) and 5 grandchildren (plus a grand-dog).  

Kathy was confirmed in 1959, with four kids in her confirmation class. Kathy was able to remember so many pastors. She was able to remember the following: Pastor Dave MacDonald, Pastor Dave Moyer, Pastor Bob who married them, Pastor Dan Randle who she hired and fired, and Pastor Reverend Caseman. 

Kathy worked as a PE teacher for a few years before raising her kids. She was a synchronized swimming, track, tennis and gymnastics coach.  Later she worked for UW and retired from the School of Education where she had been assistant to the dean.

Once the pandemic hit, she realized how much the church really meant to her.  When we were all worshiping online, no one was 100% connected within the church. She realized what was amazing was the fact that she was able to have that family within the church when she needed it most.  For example, she needed support when her mother died and also when her husband had cancer.

One amazing story that she was able to tell was about her father and sister. As WW2 ended, and word made it back to Windsor, her dad was at home with her sister. When he heard the news, he grabbed her sister’s arm, ran to the church and rang our church bell until he couldn’t do it anymore. This meant that as WW2 ended, our church bells rang to celebrate it! 

Some advice she gave to me was to stick with the program. Even if I wasn’t enjoying it now and I still had questions, I should just stick it through and be able to find that the church family is the most important part of a church. Overall, I loved this interview and she was very nice.