Bio: Jantsch, Mrs. Francis (90 Year Old – 2 Apr 1977)

Transcriber: Stan

Surnames: Jantsch

----Source: Tribune/Phonograph (Abbotsford, Clark Co., Wis.) 30 Mar 1977

Mrs. Francis Jantsch, 202 W. Maple Street, Abbotsford, will be 90 years old on April 2, 1977. Mrs. Jantsch, who lives with her son, George, does all the house cleaning, baking, sewing, gardening, laundering and ironing.

Last summer she said she had a wonderful gar despite the dry weather. She even carried out the bath water to water the garden, she stated. She said she prefers to freeze the food rather than can, because it’s easier and also like the taste of the food better.

Before moving to Abbotsford 11 years ago she and her husband farmed east of Dorchester for 60 years. Her husband died 12 years ago.

When Mrs. Jantsch was 16 her mother died, and she helped raise seven brothers and sisters. She said times were tough then. “You couldn’t ship and sell milk like today, so the family raised colts to help the income,” she noted.

She indicated she has seen many unusual things in her lifetime. One time she said she met up with a pack of wolves while feeding the pigs. She said they didn’t bother her so she just went on with her chores. “They like the cooked potatoes and were hungry just like the pigs” she said.

Another time she was out in the woods picking berries and notices the woods were unusually quiet. She said there wasn’t any animals moving about and didn’t even hear a bird. She said she was suspicious that there was something wrong, but kept right on picking berries. Suddenly, she said, she felt something graze her arm. An there was a big wild cat that jumped out of the tree practically on top of her. She said she let out some blood curdling screams that her son heard a half mile away. He came running into the woods after her to see what happened. Mrs. Jantsch said she must have frightened the cat into hiding with her screams, because when her son went out looking for it he couldn’t find it. She said he found it several days later and shot it so she wasn’t afraid to go into the woods again.

Mrs. Jantsch only wears glasses for reading. She writes many letters because she said she enjoys receiving leteres, and the only way to receive them is to write them.

She plays cards at the Abbotsford City Hall and at the Green Vista, is a member of the Library Club, Abbotsford Senior Citizens Club and has been a member of the Bruckerville Homemakers Club for over 50 years. Sometimes she gets to the Dorchester Senior Citizens Club and joins in their activities as well, she says.

Mrs. Jantsch has another son, Leonard, who lives at Milan, and two grandsons, Charles and John.