Smoller, Jeane Margaret
Peacefully crossed into eternal life Saturday, January 30, 2016 surrounded by loving family and cherished friends at St. Joseph's (Froedtert) Hospital in West Bend. Jeane was born in Milwaukee, WI on June 12, 1922, the youngest of eleven siblings. She lost her mother at age nine, and was raised by her sister and brother-in-law, Rose and Herb Wendlend.
She graduated from South Division High School with an award in academic excellence in Latin and a Scholarship to Nursing School, but instead, worked until she married Army Air Corps fighter pilot instructor, Lt. William Smoller, and accompanied him to flight training bases in New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas. For several decades after WWII, she was a homemaker, and then earned her certification and bachelors and masters degrees in elementary education. Her teaching career began at St. Hubert's School in Hubertus in 1967, and she retired in 1994 at Richfield Elementary. She taught grades three, five, and six, as well as special classes in gifted and talented. She helped to design the Richfield School District Curriculum for G & T, and offered her own classes in Latin, Chinese, rocketry, debate, dramatic monologue, and Language for the Deaf. She was also awarded Teacher of the Year at Richfield.
Jeane also enjoyed traveling, and combined academics with learning as she both attended and presented at Gifted and Talented conferences in Germany, Great Britain, and Australia. She also spent the summer of 1988 at Shangdon University in China studying Chinese Language and History. Jeane continued learning all of her life, auditing classes at UW-Milwaukee in Ancient Greek, Mandarin Chinese, Ancient Roman Culture and Literature, and Advanced Latin after she retired. Not surprisingly, she was a formidable Scrabble champion. All she did bore her lifelong philosophy, A Winner Never Quits, and a Quitter Never Wins.
Jeane is preceded in death by her parents John and Margaret Phillips, her husband William, her brothers Frank, Eugene, and Edward Phillips, and her sisters Mary (Red) Spang, Rose (Herb) Wendlend, Emily (Harry) Eisner, Audrey (Clarence) Capito, and Sr. Mary Jeane Agnes Phillips, BVM. She is deeply mourned and missed by her children Jeffrey Smoller, Mary-Jeane Smoller-Phillips, and Susan Emily (George) Thiel, her grandchildren Emily and Elizabeth Thiel, Carol (Daniel) Pier, and Marian (Nimit) Shah, and great-grandchildren Kayla and Luca Pier, and Rohan Shah. She remains in the memories of the many students she reached in her lifetime.
A Memorial Mass will be celebrated on Sat. Feb. 6 at 12 Noon at St. Gabriel Parish, 1200 St. Gabriel Way, Hubertus, WI. The family will receive relatives and friends at the Church from 10 AM until the time of Mass. The Mass will be followed by a lucheon and gathering in the church hall. Memorials to St. Gabriels's School are appreciated.
