Obit: Wolf, Frank J./Rita (Murder/Suicide - 1979)

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

Surnames: Wolf, Paulus, Deutschlander, Lulloff, Blake, Maier, Gargulak, Sarona, Howard, Dodge, Schultz, Ramportl, Livingston, Egerstoffer

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 9/13/1979

Wolf, Mr./Mrs. Frank J. (Murder/Suicide – 7 August 1979)

Dead were Frank G. Wolf and his wife, Rita. An out-of-work Thorp school teacher with a history of mental problems committed suicide last Wednesday afternoon, September 5, after murdering his wife, said Clark County officers and Robert Lulloff, Coroner.

Originally from the Rice Lake area, Wolf had worked as a teacher and under CETA program as a school custodian until leaving the Thorp school system last year.

The couple left three sons, ages nine to twelve, as survivors. The children were in school on the afternoon of the shootings. Their father had called Irma Deutschlander, an elementary principal, and told her to hold the children after school. Deutschlander, who asked to speak to Mrs. Wolf and was refused, called the police.

Upon officer’s arrival, they found the Wolf house locked. In a look in a window, they spotted the body of Mrs. Wolf on a bed. Officers then broke into the house and found Frank Wolf dead on the kitchen floor. With a 30-30 rifle as the instrument, Mrs. Wolf, who apparently was resting prior to going to work in the Eau Claire area, was killed by a bullet that entered her left arm, entered her chest and pierced her heart. Her husband died of massive head injuries from the self-inflicted gunshot.

Time of the shootings was placed at shortly after noon for Mrs. Wolf and after 2:30 for the suicide. Neighbors reported hearing a gunshot around noon and another between 2:30 and 2:45.

Funeral services were held last Friday at the Thorp Funeral Home and on Satruday at the Appleyard Funeral Home in Rice Lake for the Wolf couple.

Frank Wolf was born in Jump River on July 8, 1934. He moved with his family to California, returning to Wisconsin to graduate from Watertown High School and from UW-Superior. On Aust 20, 1966, he and Rita Paulus were wed in Rice Lake ceremonies. He taught school in that community for one year and then moved to Thorp.

Mrs. Wolf was born on October 2, 1933, in Rusk County. She graduated from Rice Lake High School and worked for telephone companies in that community and Eau Claire, the latter her employer at the time of her death.

Surviving the couple are the three sons, Tim, Gerald and Damien; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Erwin Wolf, Cameron; his grandmother, Mrs. Ann Wolf, Thorp; his sister, Mrs. Harland Blake of Scotts Bluff, Neb.; her brothers and sisters, Adolph of Round Up, Mt., Mrs. Celia Maier of Lancaster, Mrs. Helen Gargulak of Sarona, and Joseph, Mrs. Mamie Gargulak, Mrs. Beatrice Howard, Mrs. Irene Dodge, Mrs. Georgia Schultz, Mrs. Martha Ramportl, Mrs. Lorraine Livingston and Mrs. Emma Egerstoffer, all of Rice Lake. She was preceded in death by two brothers and her parents.