Audrey Y. Grambsch's Obituary
Audrey Yvonne Ristow Grambsch, age 91, died from dementia on Sunday, February 27, 2022 at Dove Healthcare-West Eau Claire, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where she had been living since September 2019.
Audrey was born March 16, 1930 at the family farm three miles west of Amherst Wisconsin to Layton Timothy Fox, Jr. and Kathryn Wilhelmina (Hahn) Fox. She had three older brothers (Layton, Everett, and Archie) and three younger brothers (Russell, Robert and Donald). Two brothers (Layton and Donald) died in infancy. She attended a one-room country grade school (Black Oak Grove) near the family farm until 6th grade when it was closed and students moved to the Amherst Grade School. She completed grade school in Amherst and graduated from Amherst High School in May 1947. After graduation, she worked at Hardware Mutual Insurance Company (Sentry Insurance) as a secretary until her marriage to Willard Arthur Ristow on June 10, 1950 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Amherst. Willard and Audrey built a house in Amherst and raised two children there. Lois Eileen was born on March 25, 1953 and Donald Archie on March 5, 1955. As a member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, she was a Sunday School teacher for 12 years and served as Treasurer for the Ladies Aid for over 10 years.
From 1967 to 1976, Audrey worked for the Tomorrow River Cooperative in Amherst as a secretary and bookkeeper. She was secretary, receptionist and assistant loan officer for the Production Farm Credit Service in Waupaca, Wisconsin from 1976 to 1987. Husband Willard Ristow died October 29, 1985 of pancreatic cancer. She married Clyde Raymond Grambsch, a widower, on October 17, 1987 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Amherst, Wisconsin and moved to Loyal, Wisconsin, where she and Clyde lived until Clyde’s death on July 4, 2015. Audrey then moved to Marshfield, Wisconsin. After a fall in her apartment in August 2019, she became a resident of Dove Healthcare-West Eau Claire.
She is survived by two sisters-in-law (Georgia Fox of Sutter Creek, California and Donna Fox of La Crescenta, California), her two children Lois Ristow of Chetek, Wisconsin and Donald Ristow of Bettendorf, Iowa, and step-children C. Robert Grambsch of Loyal, Wisconsin, Mary (Jim) Sossong of Merrillan, Wisconsin and Carmella (Charles) Anderson of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, three nieces, six nephews, as well as numerous step-grandchildren, step-great-grandchildren and step-great-great-grandchildren.
Audrey was preceded in death by six brothers (Layton, Donald, Robert, Archie, Russell and Everett), her parents (Layton T. and Kathryn Fox), niece Gael Fox, sisters-in-law Henriette Fox and Joyce Fox, step-daughter Connie and her husband Dale Clintsman, step-daughter-in-law Susan Grambsch, and husbands Willard Ristow and Clyde Grambsch.
A Visitation Only for Audrey will be on Thursday, March 3, 2022 from 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM at the Jungers-Holly Funeral Home, 262 S. Main Street, Amherst, WI 54406. Following the visitation, burial will be taking place at Greenwood Cemetery in Amherst. The Jungers-Holly Funeral Home of Amherst is assisting the family with arrangements.
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