Gretchen (Below) Resch, of Birnamwood, died Tuesday, June 17, 2014 at Autumn Lane Family Care Assisted Living in Birnamwood under the care of LeRoyer Hospice. She was 89 years old. She was born on September 17, 1924 in Chicago, IL a daughter of the late Leonard and Ruth (Kubik) Below. She married Wilfred "Wink" Resch on June 9, 1945 at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Phlox. He preceded her in death on February 21, 2008.

Prior to her marriage she attended Northern Illinois State Teachers College for three years. She later went back to receive her bachelors degree from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point in 1974. She was a substitute teacher for the Unified School District of Antigo and the Wittenberg-Birnamwood School District retiring in 2001.

Mrs. Resch was a member of Holy Family Catholic Church in Mattoon and served many years as church organist and choir director.

She enjoyed reading, traveling, photography, sketching and watching T.V.

Survivors include four daughters, Genevieve "Jenny" (Dale) Schaffner of Fountain City, Trudey (Roy) Peterson of DePere, Emily (Gary) Hamm of Tigerton and Caroline Jensen(John Kwiecinski) of Westfield, NJ; four sons, Robert "Sam" (Sandi) Resch of Las Cruces, NM, Tom (Sharon) Resch of Cody, WY, John (Diana) Resch of Birnamwood and Andy (Judi) Resch of Birnamwood; a sister, Caroline Krueger of Phoenix, AZ; 19 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren.

In addition to her husband she was preceded in death by a brother-in-law, Rollie Krueger.

A funeral Mass will be held on Saturday, June 21 at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph Holy Family Catholic Church in Phlox with Reverend Charles Hoffmann and Deacon Tom Hartman officiating. Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. on Friday, June 20 at the Bradley Funeral Home and 10 to 11 a.m. on Saturday at the church. A parish wake service will be held Friday at 7:00 p.m. at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the Wink and Gretchen Resch Memorial Scholarship Fund (donations payable to the Red Robin Scholarship Fund, c/o Andy Resch N9562 Phoebe Road Birnamwood WI 54414) or LeRoyer Hospice, 112 E. Fifth Ave, Antigo WI 54409.

Services