Kathleen Ann Jakel

Mrs. Kathleen Ann (Ostrander) Jakel, of Portland, Oregon, born on October 21, 1927 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, passed away at age 91 on June 2, 2019. Kathleen grew up in Sheboygan and Princeton, Wisconsin, where she graduated from Princeton High School in 1945. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, graduating in 1949 with a BA in English, and received a Master of Library Sciences from Rosary College in RiverForest, IL in 1951. Kathleen married William (Bill) Jakel, Jr. in San Francisco in 1953. She worked as a librarian near the San Diego Zoo while Bill was on active duty in the Navy. After Bill began working for State Farm Insurance the two of them, along with daughter Susan and son Bill, lived in New Mexico, where Kathy was a librarian at the Sandia military base. In 1964, they returned to Wisconsin, where their son Chris was born. Kathy worked as a substitute librarian in Madison, Wisconsin, and then as a saleswoman at Sears.

After retirement, Kathy kept busy, doing research and ushering for a local Shakespeare theater company, and becoming deeply involved in genealogy. She relished meeting distant relatives around the country through the Ostrander Family Association, and made lasting friendships. One of these friendships even led to a job, placing students for an international student exchange program. Kathy also traveled to Ireland, Germany, and Czechoslovakia, as well as hosting international students. In the early 2000s, she was diagnosed with macular degeneration and began losing her eyesight. She and Bill moved to Portland, Oregon soon after that, to live near her son Chris and his family.

Kathleen is preceded in death by her parents, Agnes Irene and George Emmet Ostrander, and her siblings, George, James, and Mary Rita. She is survived by her husband Bill; son Christopher and daughter-in-law Alison of Portland; son Bill of Madison, WI; daughter Susan of Deming, NM; grandchildren, Nicole Hankins of Cambridge, WI, Benjamin Jakel and Evan Jakel of Portland, OR; great-grandchildren, Bradley Dowse and Andrew Hankins of Cambridge, WI, and sister-in-law Audrey Ostrander of Princeton, WI. Those who wish may donate in Kathleen's name to Macular Degeneration Center Fund at the OHSU Casey Eye Institute.