Ika J. Volm

Ika Jean Volm, 48, of Weston passed away peacefully Monday June 8, 2020 at Aspirus Wausau Hospital.

Born June 21, 1971 in Wausau, to the late Robert and Mary (Meyers) Volm. She graduated from Marathon High School in 1989. Ika worked at the Marshfield Clinic, Kmart and tended bar throughout her lifetime.

Ika was born with a very rare disease called Vater’s Syndrome and spent much of her childhood at Minneapolis Children’s Hospital away from her siblings and parents. Ika did not meet all her siblings until she was 2 years old when she came home for the first time. Although she went through many surgeries including 3 kidney transplants, one from her sister Lisa, one from her brother Rory and another from an unknown individual, she enjoyed life to the fullest. She accomplished everything on her bucket list from skydiving to going to Disney World. The only thing she did not get to do was a hot air balloon ride. She loved to go shopping, Sunday drives, motorcycle rides with Guy, old cars and car shows, flowers especially daisies and carnations, her trips, visits and lunches with her friends Jan and Irene, and attending the races on Thursday night to watch her nephews Jeremy, Travis and Alex race. She was their biggest fan! You could never find a bigger Green Packer or Wisconsin Badger fan.

Making family memories was very important to Ika, especially when the family all got together for their Christmas celebrations. The only time she missed a family function was if she was hospitalized or too sick to go and that was not very often if she had anything to do with it. In her journal she kept, she often wrote she will begin her new journey with a heart full of memories.

She is survived by the love of her life, Guy Gauger and his son Blake, 4 sisters and 6 brothers, Debbie (Gerhard) Bohn, Georgia, Randy (Kathy) Volm, Mosinee, Melanie Volm, Ladysmith, Rick (Trisha) Volm, Marathon, Sheri Volm, Marathon, Lisa (David) Stahnke, Medford, Robert (Brenda) Volm, Wausau, Ronald (Becky) Volm, Wausau, Rory (Tammy) Volm, Edgar, and Scott (Annie) Volm, Mosinee. Ika has 27 nieces and nephews, 35 great nieces and nephews and 1 great-great nephew, many aunts, uncles and cousins.

Besides her parents, she was preceded in death by 1 niece, Charity Kay Volm.

We would like to thank the nurses, the dialysis team, and doctors who cared for Ika in her final days of life. A very special thank you to Dr. Abrego and his nurse Sherry for all the care, understanding and love they gave Ika the past 20 years. You were more than just a physician and a nurse to her. To our Aunt Eileen, you were Ika’s rock, thank you for visiting and sitting with her during dialysis sessions. She so loved you.

Don’t Weep for Me

Don’t weep for me, for it was time to slip life’s bonds and soar and climb. Do not grieve for what is past, for bodies are not meant to last. Expendable, their only role a growing medium for the soul.

Don’t store my books, don’t wear my rings or cling to clothes or other things of sentimental value, for you do not need them anymore.

Browse through photos for a while, but only if they make you smile and call to mind how much we cared, the things we did, the times we shared; but do not sigh and wish them back, or dress yourself in hopeless black, for clouds will part and larks will rise – the wheel must turn to make us wise.

And this is how ‘twill ever be: I’m part of you, you’re part of me. At every dawning’s golden flare, each velvet nightfall, I’ll be there.

On woodland walk, by tossing sea, some elemental part of me will ride the wind and sing its song, for each to each, we all belong.

Your happiness will set me free; beloved, do not weep for me.

Funeral services will be on Friday, June 12, 2020 at Peterson/Kraemer Funeral Home, Marathon. Rev. Msgr. Joseph Diermeier will preside. Burial will be in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Marathon. Public Visitation will be Friday from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon when the service will begin for the family. Social distancing guidelines will be practiced.