Obit: Haines, Juanita “Nita” Adeline Geier (1922 - 2020)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Petzke, Geier, Lietz, Nikula, Ross, Kindschi, Averbeck, Emberson, Vande Velde, Butterbrodt, Duge

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 2/26/2020

Haines, Juanita “Nita” Adeline Geier (19 December 1922 – 9 February 2020)

Juanita "Nita" Adeline Geier Haines, 97, passed away during her sleep in the early morning hours of February 9, 2020 at Parkside Assisted Living in Deforest. She was born on December 19, 1922 to Bill and Norma Petzke Geier in Wilton.

Juanita worked as a secretary in Milwaukee and Minneapolis, MN, before obtaining her degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1953. She met her first husband, Leo Robert Nikula, when both worked at the Badger Army Ammunition Plant near Baraboo. She and Leo divorced, and Juanita raised their two sons, Michael and John, while working as the high school home economics teacher at Randolph. During the summers, she and friend Marilyn Vander Velde (the school secretary) took her sons on many month-long cross-country trips to visit national parks and historic sites.

While at Randolph, Marvelene Butterbrodt (Duge) came to teach English and befriended Juanita. Marvelene talked about a high school classmate up in Clark County who happened to be a Norwegian bachelor farmer and arranged for them to meet. In June 1961, Juanita married Harold Glenn Haines (Glenn) and moved to the farm near Neillsville. They had twin daughters, Anna and Gina in 1963. Juanita taught at the Sunburst Youth Home and the Neillsville Middle School. She was also a 4-H leader, teaching cooking and a variety of crafts.

Glenn and Juanita retired from farming in 1988 and moved to Sparta, where they lived in the house built by Juanita’s mother and step-father, Norma and Erwin Lietz. Juanita and Glenn had 57 loving years together.

Juanita was active in the Retired Educators Association and as an RSVP Volunteer. She earned an award for 25,000 cumulative hours of service from RSVP in 2015. She knitted hundreds of colorful children’s hats and mitten sets with donated bits of yarn.

In 2016, Glenn and Juanita moved to a senior apartment at Mary Crest in Sparta, where they had many good friends. Glenn passed away in September 2018, and Juanita moved to Parkside Assisted Living in December 2019.

Juanita was an amazing role model, a strong and creative woman, who was ahead of her time. She was an organic gardener before it was popular. She sewed, tatted, crocheted, wove, cooked, baked and, of course, knitted. She was Martha Stewart before Martha Stewart. She was highly intelligent, independent, fun-loving, frugal, generous and willing to try many things. She kept detailed project notebooks about what worked and what did not. She was a lifelong learner and embraced technology, getting her first iPad at age 90. She was a wonderful mother, grandmother, beloved aunt and friend. She will be missed by all who knew her.

She is survived by brother William (Bill) Geier, daughter Gina Haines-Ross (Janice), sons Michael Nikula (Amy Kindschi), and John Nikula (Lisa), granddaughters Jenna Nikula Averbeck (Micah) and Kayla Nikula (Dan Emberson), grandson Evan Nikula, two great-grandsons and nieces and nephews.

Juanita was preceded in death by her husband Glenn Haines, her daughter Anna Marie Haines, her parents Norma and Erwin Lietz, and her brother Leonard Geier.

The family would like to thank the caregivers at the Mary Crest Senior Apartments and Morrow Home in Sparta, and at Parkside Assisted Living in Deforest.

Juanita continued her service to students by the generous donation of her body to the University of Wisconsin Medical School. Currently no memorial service is being planned.