Surnames: Friske, Drews, Wells, Johnson, Edwards, Sebastian, Lambrecht, Jacobs

----Sources: Scrap book one: by Elsa Lange Hardrath & Dorthaleen Edwards Hardrath

Contributed by Halbert "Bud" Hardrath

Friske, Norman E. (2 Feb. 1916 - 13 Feb. 1985)

Norman E. Friske, 69, Mayor of Whitehall, died Wednesday, Feb. 13, 1985, in La Crosse Lutheran Hospital.

He was born Feb. 2, 1916, in Wilton to Otto and Clara (Drews) Friske. He married Marguerite Wells on May 1, 1940, in Waukon, Iowa.

He was a graduate of Greenwood High School and had attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was a World War II veteran and had been awarded the Purple Heart and Croix de Guerre Award.

He was employed by the Production Credit Association in Mondovi for six years before moving to Whitehall, where he was employed by the Federal Land Bank from 1952 to 1982.

Friske was elected mayor without opposition last spring. He had served on the Whitehall City Council for 16 years before that.

He was a past commander of Hutchins-Stendahl American Legion Post No. 191, served on the board of directors of the Whitehall Community Chest for the past 12 years and was a member of the Whitehall Chamber of Commerce.

He was a member and a lay leader of the United Methodist Church in Whitehall.

Survivors are his wife; a son, Fredric N. of Shepherdsville, Ky.; a daughter, Faye Johnson, of De Forest; a twin brother, Norbert of Greenwood; two sisters, Florence Edwards of Stevens Point; and Bernice Sebastian of New Pork Richie, Fla.

Services were Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Whitehall. The Revs. Thomas Lambrecht and LaMoine Jacobs officiated. Burial was in the Lincoln Cemetery, Whitehall, with military rites by Hutchins-Stendal American Legion Post 191.