Sun Prairie-

Jeanette Marian (Frey) Schey passed away in her home surrounded by family and love on February 7, 2024. Jeanette was born to Joseph and Gertrude (Coenen) Frey in their Roxbury farm home on April 11, 1924. She attended St. Norbert’s Elementary School in Roxbury and graduated from Columbus High School in 1941. She loved to share memories of her 8th grade year when she lived with the Dominican nuns at St. Norbert’s.

On August 22, 1944, Jeanette married Reuben Schey at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in East Bristol. They were blessed with six children and celebrated 69 years of marriage in 2013. Jeanette loved being at home to raise her six children and care for many others in her home daycare. Her grandchildren relished pulling out the box of toys in the front closet and spreading them across the living room floor. Jeanette especially delighted in the many years of family gatherings at Reuben’s Retreat, a family cottage on Lake Wisconsin. Four generations of the Schey family have decades of sweet memories with Jeanette at the cottage.

Jeanette loved people and could walk into any setting and walk out with new friends. One of Jeanette’s greatest joys in life was to bless others with her cooking, baking, and home-canned goods. Her homemade noodles and pies are known far and wide and have been enjoyed by generations. Jeanette’s many careers included bank teller, rural census taker, encyclopedia sales, typesetter, bookkeeper, and office manager. One of her favorite jobs was as office administrator at Colonial View apartments, where she brought joy and love to the seniors who lived there. She did the same volunteering at St. Mary’s Hospital. Jeanette was a member of Sacred Hearts Catholic Church for 75 years and St. Ann’s Society for many years.

After 99 years of Jeanette bringing kindness to this earth, we say good-bye to our family matriarch and historian. She will be greatly missed by those she loved and left behind, including her six children: Ron, Judy (Russ) St. Clair, Patricia (Russ) Fassbender, Bonnie, James (Shawn) and Mary; her eleven grandchildren: Cori McNamee (Matt Olenchak), Chris (Kate) St. Clair, Michael (Stephanie Stewart) St. Clair, Nicole (Matt Lister) St. Clair, Paul (Diana) Fassbender, Beth (Rocco) Pergola, Joe Fassbender, Pete (Alyssa) Fassbender, Taylor (Sumita Chakraborty) Schey, Jade Schey, and Phoebe Wagner; her thirteen great-grandchildren: Alexandra, Hailey, Eleanor, Hannah, Bennett, Sam, Brooke, Wynland, Colin, Mayme, Claudia, Caroline, and Poppy; and many nieces, nephews, and their families. Jeanette was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Reuben, in 2014 and her dear friend and neighbor, George Thorsen, in 2023.

Memorials in Jeanette’s name may be made to Sacred Hearts Cemetery Perpetual Care Fund or Agrace Hospice. Jeanette’s family extends their deepest gratitude for the compassionate care provided by her hospice team and Visiting Angels.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 13 at Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Catholic Church, 227 Columbus St., Sun Prairie, with Monsignor Duane Moellenberndt presiding. Visitation will be 5 to 7 p.m. on Monday, February 12 at the Tuschen-Newcomer Funeral Home, 302 Columbus St., Sun Prairie and before Mass at the church starting at 9:30. Luncheon will be served after the Mass.

You showered us with your love and zest for life for 99 years, and you still wanted more. We did, too. We love you, Mom.