Greta B. Michaels

Greta B. Michaels

Greta B. (Brockhausen) Michaels, 92, passed away at St. Anthony Park Home in St. Paul on October 20, 2021. She was born March 11, 1929, in Madison, WI. Greta graduated from Smith College, Northhampton, MA in June, 1950 with honors and a major in English. (She proudly spoke of meeting Eleanor Roosevelt while there!)

She took graduate work at the University of Wisconsin and at Oxford, England in education and English. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Delta Gamma. After college Greta worked as an archivist and researcher for the Wisconsin State Journal.

She met Robert, her beloved spouse, at a wedding on Lake Mendota. They evidently got acquainted while waiting for another boat to return with some gas! They married on August 25, 1951 at Greta’s family home in Maple Bluff in Madison and celebrated their 70th anniversary this year.

When Robert joined MSI they moved to St. Paul and then to St. Anthony Park where they built the home they lived in for over 60 years. In 2018 they moved to 1666 Coffman which they both loved and made new friends and connected to old friends.

Greta taught English to junior high and high school students at Murray, Johnson and Central in St. Paul. She was much admired for her intellectual and creative ability to work well even with sometimes reluctant students. Students and staff benefitted from her work in staff development teaching Writing Across the Curriculum to teachers. She was always willing to help kids, whether in the classroom or up at her treasured Minnow Lake in WI.

In the early 1960’s, Greta and Bob purchased a lot and built a cabin on Minnow Lake near Danbury, Wisconsin. Several years later, they bought a larger cabin at the east end of the lake. While the children were young, the family spent most summer weekends at the cabin. Following retirement, Greta and Bob spent much of each spring, summer and fall there.

St. Simon’s Island GA became their snowbird home in 2000 and they trekked south every year with close friends and family for seventeen years. Their circle of friends there grew each year and Greta and Robert began packing for their February trips usually in November!

Greta was preceded in death by her parents, Fritzi and Herbert (Henry) Brockhausen, her brother Bill, (Frederick William) and her dearly loved cousins, Dick and Louis Fry.

Greta is survived by her husband Robert, her children John (Karen), Paul (Ramona) and Henry (Janine) and five much loved grandchildren Katherine, Annie, Ben, Robert and Will and many dear friends near and far.

We are very grateful and appreciative of the care of the wonderful staff at St. Anthony Park Home and thank them for their diligence, supportive care, compassion and respect.

A celebration of life will take place at a later date.