Leona Tucker

Leona Tucker, 97, passed away at Aspirus Hospital in Wausau, WI on January 11, 2019.  She was born Leona Helene Garbisch on April 12, 1921 at the family farm in Granton, WI.  Leona graduated as the valedictorian of the Granton High School Class of 1939. She married Joseph Tucker on May 18, 1948.  They lived in Superior for most of their married life.  Joe and Leona moved to Wausau in 1990 to be nearer their family.

In Wausau, she served in several offices for the local AARP chapter and on the statewide AARP Legislative Committee. She received the Ethel Percy Andrus Award for statewide service. Leona was part of the Depression Kids who spoke at area schools and was featured in the first DC Everest history book. Leona was also a member of St. Matthew Catholic Church and the Catholic Daughters. She helped with the Tax Aide program well into her eighties and completed 15 years of service as an Aspirus volunteer at age 92. She especially enjoyed singing weekly with the Wausau Senior Citizen Chorus at many nursing homes throughout the area. 

Leona loved to attend all the family gatherings from weddings to graduations to the annual family reunion in Marshfield.  Leona was dearly loved by her nieces and nephews and their families. She was the matriarch of the family and the last of her generation.

Leona was preceded in death by her beloved husband Joe, an infant son, her parents Paul and Emma Garbisch, all her siblings and their spouses, and her son-in-law, James Nikstad.

Leona will be greatly missed by her children, Emalyn Nikstad (Wausau, WI) and Rick and Bonnie Tucker (Hermantown, MN), her grandchildren and their spouses Laura Nikstad and Dan Tyx (McAllen, TX), Paul and Erica Nikstad (Deephaven, MN) , Bethany Nikstad (St. Louis, MO), Andrea and Brandon Walburg (Hermantown, MN), Joseph P. Tucker (Dayton, OH) and Kyle Tucker (Yokohama, Japan) and her great-grandchildren Benjamin Tyx, Ana Tyx, Trevor Walburg, Thomas Walburg and Judd Nikstad. She is also survived by her in-laws Aileen Tucker, Mary Tucker, David and Janice Tucker and Michael Tucker.

Services will be held at St. Matthew Catholic Church, Wausau, on Saturday, January 19, 2019. Visitation will be from 9:30-11:30 with the Mass of Burial at 11:30. Interment will be at Calvary Cemetery in Superior, WI in spring.

Peterson-Kraemer Funeral Home of Wausau is in charge of arrangements. On-line condolences may be expressed at www.petersonkraemer.com.

The family would like to thank the staff at Mountain Terrace Senior Living for the kind and considerate support they have given Leona over the past four years and to the entire staff of the Palliative Care Unit at Aspirus for their tender care.

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