(nee Kettlehohn) Of Brookfield. Formerly of Wauwatosa. Born to Eternal Life on Thursday, April 15, 2021. Age 90. Beloved wife for 69 years of Dr. Donald G. Nordholm. Dear mother of Atty. Jeffery (Anne) and Carl (Abbie). Loving grandmother of Gregory (Lauren), Eric (Jessie), Charles (Nicole) and Madeline (Corey) VanGroll. Loving great-grandmother of Scout, Elizabeth, Gabriel, Harrison and Claire. Dear sister of the late Dr. Arthur (the late Lucy) Kettlehohn and the late Marjorie (the late Charles) McInerney. Further survived by nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.
Visitation Saturday, April 24, 2021 from 11:00am until Time of Service at 12:00 Noon at Mount Carmel Lutheran Church, 8424 W. Center Street, Milwaukee. Appropriate COVID precautions will be followed. Entombment at Wisconsin Memorial Park, Brookfield. In lieu of flowers, memorials to Mount Carmel Lutheran Church, Reformation Lutheran Church or Children’s Hospital appreciated.
Lois was born in Saginaw, Michigan on November 3, 1930, to Carl and Ottilie (Tillie) Kettelhohn. She followed her older brother, Arthur, to Marquette University Dental School where she studied dental hygiene. There she met a skinny, nerdy, young dental student named Don Nordholm. They fell in love and were married on June 20, 1952 in Saginaw. Lois gave birth to her first son, Jeff, in July 1953, in Rantoul, Illinois, where Don was stationed as an Air Force dentist. Lois and Don returned to Milwaukee where Don joined his father, Dr. George W. Nordholm, in the practice of dentistry. Second son Carl was born in 1955.
In the mid-1960s Lois returned to her chosen profession of dental hygiene and she practiced alongside her husband and father-in-law. She also kept the practice going as office manager. She carried on both roles, as well as that of mother to her sons, until Dr. Don retired from practice in 2004.
Lois was of German ancestry. But she adopted an interest in the Scandinavian customs of her husband’s family, even to the point where she would prepare lutefisk for her father-in-law! But she could never be persuaded to eat it.
Lois had many passions. She was a winemaker and collector of antiques. She engaged in the fiber arts as both a collector of Persian, Turkish, Arabian and Native American rugs and as knitter, spinner and weaver. She and Don were avid cross-country skiers. She was a committed genealogist who introduced us to our ancestors. She read widely and with keen interest. Lois was the one who asked probing questions in her Bible study group at church. She traveled throughout the United States with Don and abroad to England, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Egypt.
Lois served her church in altar guilds and on pastoral call committees. She was deeply dedicated to her church community and was active in its life and ministries.
We, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, will always hold her memory dear.
Mount Carmel Lutheran Church 8424 W. Center St. Milwaukee, WI 53222
https://mountcarmelchurch.org/
Reformation Lutheran Church 3806 W. Lisbon Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53208
reformationlchurch3806@gmail.com
Children's Hospital 8915 Connell Ct. Wauwatosa, WI 53226
https://childrenswi.org/
If you would to view the service for Lois Nordholm this Saturday, April 24, 2021 at 12:00 Noon, please click link below.
https://www.mountcarmelchurch.org/Live-Streaming
