Genevieve “Jenny” Regan passed away peacefully at Harvest Home Assisted Living on the 6th day of October 2022. She was 93 years old.
Jenny was born in Sheboygan, WI on January 4, 1929, the daughter of Anton and Victoria Cykana. She graduated from Central High in 1947. After high school graduation, she attended Sheboygan County Normal School and became an elementary school teacher.
Jenny started her teaching career at Champion School, a one-room schoolhouse in the town of Mosel. She often joked that she was the principal, the teacher for grades 1 – 8 and handyman, while always keeping the wood stove going.
On June 23, 1951, she married Wallace “Wally” Regan at Bethany Lutheran Church in Kohler. Together they raised three children, David, Jack and Sallie. Wally preceded her in death on July 21, 2000.
After Jenny and Wally married, they moved into the family home in Kohler and helped take care of Wally’s father who was ill. As newlyweds, they wanted a place to get away, so they bought a small rustic cottage on Wilke Lake in 1952 where they spent a lifetime of summers entertaining friends, boating, waterskiing, sitting around campfires with friends and family. From the beginning, Jenny loved organizing the Annual Fourth of July party at the cottage and with each passing year the themes and games became grander. Although the original cottage is gone, the family still enjoys spending time making memories in the house “at the lake”.
Jenny took time off from teaching to be at home while the children were young. She dedicated her extra time volunteering for many organizations in Kohler including the Girl Scouts and the Red Cross. Her kids recall staying in the Kohler pool for hours upon hours while she taught swimming lessons, safety courses and lifeguarding.
Jenny lived her life like an inspired teacher. She was creative, curious, kind and had a great sense of humor.
One of Jenny’s proudest accomplishments was going back to complete her college degree. She commuted daily year-round to the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and in 1967 received her BA Degree in Education. The rest of her career, she taught at Pigeon River Elementary School in Sheboygan as a first and second grade teacher.
In retirement, Jenny and Wally loved to travel through the Elderhostel program. She said that while her friends were on luxury vacations, they were roughing it on research vessels, sleeping in dorms rooms and being ranch hands. The accommodations were basic, but the experiences were big.
After Wally’s death, it was hard keeping up two households, so she sold the family home in Kohler and moved full time to Wilke Lake. In the summer, she spent her days enjoying the lake, gardening, raking weeds on the shore and chasing geese off the lawn. In winter she loved reading by the fire and enjoyed the company of neighbors stopping by.
Jenny is also preceded in death by her companion, Tom Gretz, of Sheboygan, who shared the last 20 years with her. They shared a love of music, rooting for the Packers, travel and an evening cocktail.
Jenny is survived by her children, David (Ellen) Regan of Kaukauna, Jack (Jennifer) Regan of Fryeburg, Maine and Sallie Regan (Bill Legere) of Auke Bay, Alaska; by four grandchildren, Jen Waukechon (Greg), Jessica Dewane (Patrick), Aaron Regan and Alexzandria Regan; and by five great-grandchildren, Brooke, Landon, Rachel, Griffin and Lakyn.
The family would like to thank the staff of Harvest Home in Howards Grove for their loving exceptional care, as well as Wendy and Debbie of Embrace Care Management for their friendship to mom and the family, and to the neighbors at Wilke Lake, you are the friends mom loved.
A visitation will be held for Jenny on Thursday, October 13 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. with a memorial service to follow at the Reinbold-Novak Funeral Home in Sheboygan, 1535 South 12th Street, Sheboygan.
Jenny will be interred next to her husband, Wally, at Woodland Cemetery in Kohler.
To honor her spirit of being a teacher and lifelong learner, a memorial fund will be set up at the Bookworm Gardens in Sheboygan to support their work to inspire the love of books and nature in the young and young at heart.
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