Former librarian still reading at age 106

The Lakeside library isn’t even called Room 309 anymore, but Mrs. Froemming still knows where to find a good book.

A visit with Agnes Froemming in her new home at Sunset Ridge in Jefferson is a great trip down memory lane with a lasting impression: her zeal for Christian education—specifically, secondary Christian education at your Lakeside Lutheran High School—has not diminished even 38 years after her last day in the Lakeside library.

The ‘50s-60s

Almost a decade before the Lakeside we know was a reality, Agnes was in an upper office on Jefferson’s Main Street, serving as the recording secretary for the newly-formed Jefferson County Lutheran High School Association. A determined group of pastors and laymen—and their wives—were raising money for the future, and Agnes was called on to tally pledges. “Ed Rindfleisch had approached me in the street and asked me to volunteer for 6 months,” 105 yearold Agnes recounts. (She was still serving in that role a decade later.)

Her husband, Harvey, owned the department store across the street, and Agnes remembers taking breaks to visit him at work, where we imagine they spent time imagining when their oldest daughter might be able to attend a Lutheran high school. The Froemmings were members of St. John in Jefferson, whose pastor, Rev. Richard Mueller, was the advocate who first presented the the need for secondary Christian education to the Western Wisconsin District in 1951 It wasn’t long before Harvey and Agnes and friends were visiting churches, encouraging congregations to join the association, (and later, in 1962, to charter the Lakeside federation).

Lakeside’s librarian from 1966–86, Mrs. Agnes Froemming is often surrounded by her Forever Warrior daughters, including (from left) Kathy (Lee ‘66) Voss, Mary Anne (Froemming ‘62) Kunz, CJ (Froemming ‘65) Hackmann, and Cheri (Froemming ‘72) Hanson.

The Lord blessed those plans, and Mary Anne Froemming began her freshman year in 1958 as one of 41 in the first class of Jefferson Co. Lutheran High School, in the former St. Paul’s elementary school in Fort Atkinson. Sister CJ (‘65) saw one year in Fort, then she and Cheri (‘72) attended the Lake Mills campus. Meanwhile, the Lee family, who lived in Kiel, Wis., so wanted a Lutheran high school for their daughter Kathy, that Harvey and Agnes welcomed her into their home for 3 1/2 years (1963-66) and have called her a daughter ever since.

When Lakeside opened its doors in 1963, Agnes was the only woman onstage for the dedication, sitting among Rev. Lloyd Huebner, Rev. John Jeske, Rev. Russell Kobs, Rev.

Roy Brassow and several other men of the building committee. What was she thinking at the time? “I was simply overjoyed to think about what the school had become,” she says.

The ‘60s-80s

While her younger daughters were still at Lakeside, Agnes was called into the office by Principal Huebner. “He asked if I would take over the library,” Agnes shared. At that time, students served as library aides, but they needed direction. “I went to schools in Madison and Milwaukee to learn the skills,” she remembers. She soon was a charter member of the WELS CLO (Church Librarians Org), helped develop the “mod system” of school day scheduling, was Ladies’ Auxiliary President and in ‘78, became St, John’s librarian as well. What does she remember most fondly of those busy years? She smiles. “Harvey had supper made when we arrived home on the bus each day,” (Yes, the same bus as daughter Cheri rode, who remembers it with not quite the same fondness.)

These days are much quieter for Agnes. She treasures her daily reads— her hymnal and prayer book. “Every day I thank God for Christian education at Lakeside, and ask that He continues to bless it,” she says, You’ve got the books that never age, Mrs. Froemming.

Images from KEMO yearbooks.