Dene Hocker Beule of Beaver Dam, Wis., died Tuesday, the 31st of July at her home in Beaver Dam with both daughters at her side.
She was born the youngest daughter of George Hocker and Rosa Delker Hocker on June 11, 1919, in Loyalsock, Pa., a very small village north of Montoursville. Her father died when she was 10 at the height of the Depression and her mother was instrumental in instilling in her the work ethic that she needed to survive those fatherless times. She became valedictorian of her high school class and the first family member to go on to college.
Her love of teaching and learning stemmed from her eight years in a one room schoolhouse in rural Pennsylvania. There, she memorized her lessons before she was finally taught to read and was determined to teach others to read in return. She attended Lock Haven College, which is now Lock Haven University in Lock Haven, Pa., and began her teaching career in 1940. She married John David Beule of Beaver Dam, Wis., in 1942, and moved to Beaver Dam with him after he completed his service in World War II. She began teaching in the Beaver Dam Unified School District in the mid-1950s and became the Reading Specialist for the school district when that post was established.
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She wished to be remembered as a lover of trees, flowers, birds and wild weeds, not to mention her husband John of 69 years and her two daughters.
She is preceded in death by her husband, John David Beule of Beaver Dam, Wis., in 2011; and her beloved brother and sisters, Guy Hocker, Helen Hocker Fink and Clara Hocker Pardoe, all of the Montoursville area of Pennsylvania; and by both her mother and father.
She is survived by two daughters, Carol Helen Beule and Jane Beule, both now living in California,;as well as numerous nieces and nephews; son-in-law, R. Griffin Coleman; and grandchildren, John Russell Coleman and Catherine Dene Coleman.
She will be lovingly and greatly missed.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at noon on Monday, Aug. 6, 2012, at St. Katharine Drexel Parish, 511 S. Spring St., Beaver Dam, Wis., with the Rev. Fr. Michael Erwin officiating. A visitation will be held on Sunday, Aug. 5, from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. at the Koepsell Funeral Home in Beaver Dam, and also on Monday from 11 a.m. until noon at the church. A private family inurnment will take place at Oakwood Cemetery in Beaver Dam at a later date.
Koepsell Funeral Home and Cremation Services in Beaver Dam is serving the family. Online condolences may be made at www.koepsellfh.com.
