Jerold L. Mullane

Jerold L. Mullane, age 85, passed away on Friday, October 30, 2020 at his home surrounded by his family.

Born in Hammond, Indiana on June 13, 1935, he was the son of the late Patrick and Lucille (Gessert) Mullane.  When Jerold was growing up, he remembers that each day one could smell the oil refineries from Whiting to the North and one couldn’t hang clothes without gathering dust from the steel foundry.  When he was in 6^th grade, his parents parted ways and the children lived with their mother.  While in 7^th grade, his mother became ill and the children were going to be placed in foster homes.  At that time, his older sister was living with her maternal grandparents in Sheboygan and his older brother was on his own.  Jerold’s mother’s sister, “My Wonderful Aunt” Viola Laack, would not let the remaining five children be split or placed in foster homes, so she and her husband raised the children on their farm in the Sheboygan County area until their mother was well enough to join them.

Jerry attended school at Olive P. Morton and Wilson in Hammond, Indiana and Elkhart Lake High School.  Jerold lettered in both basketball and baseball all 4 years of high school.  He led the Baseball League in home runs during his senior year. After high school, he worked in the Shipping Department of the Kohler Company for approximately one and half years and then decided that factory work wasn’t in his future.  After he quit working for the Kohler Company, his mother and the children moved to Sheboygan to care for their elderly grandparents, and that is where Jerold started his college life attending the University of Wisconsin-Extension Sheboygan.  After one year in college and running low on money, Jerold decided to move back to Hammond, IN and worked for the American Steel Foundries.  While in Hammond, he took one course at night getting another taste of college at the University of Indiana.  After working for a year and a half at the steel foundry, he was able to save some money and headed back to Wisconsin and enrolled at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater.  A highlight at the University was learning and participating in the school’s theater department.  Jerold had parts in two productions; one was an Elizabethan play called Shoemakers Holiday where he was a wounded warrior fighting in the War of the Roses, and the other part was in a Eugene O’Neill play, “Anna Christie” where he was an Irish bartender. He graduated with a Business Degree from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Jerold’s best highlight during his college years at Whitewater was dating Leah. On June 27, 1959 he was united in marriage to Leah Richter at St. Henry Church in Watertown, WI.  They were blessed to have celebrated 61 years of marriage and have four wonderful children and nine grandchildren.

He was an active member of Our Lady of Holy Rosary Catholic Church; chairing the Personnel Committee; a member of Holy Name Society for 30 years; past president of Holy Name Society; Chairman of the annual Sports Night and a volunteer at numerous summer festivals.

Jerry served in the National Guard of Wisconsin and as a Reserve of the Army of the United States until his honorable discharge on May 22, 1958.

Jerry had a flair for leading people, being innovative as well as hard working and enjoying the challenges of each workday. His work history exemplified these attributes as he started with the Burroughs Corporation as a Territory Manager for approximately seven years selling accounting and adding machines.  After selling an accounting machine to Charlie Vignieri at Kenosha Packing and a few discussions, he began working as an Office Manager, then promoted to Controller for Kenosha Packing and Birchwood Meats.  Jerry obtained a position with Jockey International as a Chief Accountant and was later promoted to Director of Corporate Taxes and then as Director of Administrative Services and served as Director of Corporate Risk Management. Jerry was employed with Jockey International for 30 years until his retirement in 2000.  In 1992 Jerry was the recipient of Jockey’s Distinguished Service Award- the highest award an employee can receive.  After his retirement, he worked as a Risk Management Consultant, serving Wicks Lumber in Vernon Hills, IL and one year part-time as a Safety Manager for Larry Raasch Construction Co.

Jerry served his community on the executive board of the Boy Scouts and was on the board at Adventures in Life-Long Learning at UW Parkside.  He was also involved with RIMS (Risk and Insurance Management Society) where he served as President and Treasurer. Jerry was a board member for United Way of Kenosha and a member of the Accounting Advisory Board of Gateway Technical Institute. He was very active with the Kenosha Rotary joining in 1970, five years on the Board of Directors, including President Elect, President and Past President. He also served on the Rotary Foundation Board for three years, one of them as President and as a Chairman of the Youth Foreign Exchange Program for ten years. He was named a Paul Harris Fellow by his fellow Rotarians. He was instrumental in the annual Rotary Softball Tournament and assisted with bell ringing for the Salvation Army.

He enjoyed golf and fishing; was proud of his Irish heritage and participated in many St. Patrick’s Day activities. Jerry and his wife traveled extensively in Europe and enjoyed spending time in Crivitz, WI, but most of all he enjoyed spending time with their precious grandchildren. He’s an individual who did all he could to make this world a better place in which all of us can live, work and raise a family.

He is survived by his wife, Leah; his children, Dr. Michael (Heidi) Mullane, Kathleen Mullane-Joyal, Kevin (Tracy) Mullane and Maureen (Todd) Pierce; his grandchildren, Caitlin and Meghan Mullane, Henri and Lucas Joyal, Nicholas, Sean, Matthew and Jake Pierce and Molly Mullane; his brother, Robert Mullane; his sister, Maureen Pittner and many nieces and nephews.

Along with his parents, Jerry is preceded in death by his siblings, Patrick Mullane, Jr., Sharon Dickmann, Sandra Tighe and James Mullane; his son-in-law, Mark Joyal; his brothers-in-law, Don Dickmann, Randy Pittner, Dick Tighe and Larry Richter and his sister-in-law, Peggy Richter.

A special thank you to Dr. Joe Garretto, Dr. Kracklow, Dr. Museitif, Dr. Mullane and to Renee and Danielle with Aurora at Home Hospice.

Memorials to Holy Rosary Parish, 2224 45^th Street, Kenosha WI, 53140 or Aurora at Home Hospice, 116 N. Dodge St. Suite 8, Burlington, WI 53105 or the charity of your choice, would be appreciated by the family.