KATHLEEN MARGARET (GANSHIRT) VAN DAM
Kathleen passed peacefully on October 29, 2024. She was born in Los Angeles, CA, to Lawrence Oliver Russell and Margaret Genevieve (Jaklin) Russell on August 29, 1928. Within a year, the family moved back to Green Bay, WI, where Kathleen grew up, attending West High School.
After graduation, Kathy became a telephone operator. A friend from work invited her to attend a dance in Pembine, WI, where she met the first love of her life, Paul Albert Ganshirt, Jr. They were married on August 5, 1950, and settled in Pembine (a town of about 500 people) where she had two daughters, Dyanne and Cynthia, and spent the next 43 years.
Kathy was enormously gifted with creativity and a perfectionist in her work. She started sewing with her grandmother at about age 12 and became so proficient she sewed her own wedding dress and the dresses of all her attendants. Being a dress designer was a secret ambition, carried out when daughter Dyanne would sketch an outfit, choose fabric, and Kathy would create it! Her sewing expertise gave us many things including coats, Easter dresses, doll dresses (sometimes all matching) and extended to various household items.
In her late 20’s, she saw an article about cake decorating and thought, “I’d like to do that!” This started a decades-long career of making birthday cakes, petit fours, cut-out cookies, and beautiful wedding cakes, sometimes delivering 4 or 5 on a weekend from her special in-home kitchen. In 1960, she even made a cake to look like the Wisconsin State Capitol Building for the inauguration of new governor Gaylord Nelson, Jr., that was pictured in Life Magazine.
She crafted many home decorations, often changing with the seasons. She and her friends also planned many elaborate themed parties, with dancing, games and special foods. Her talents also extended to knitting, painting, cross-stitching, card making, scrapbooking, clay creations, as well as well-tended gardens of flowers and vegetables. She was always well-dressed and fashionable, even into her last years. She was the Martha Stewart of her time!
She added “accounting” to her talents when she and Paul bought the local lumber company and it became Paul Ganshirt Building Supply. In their 50’s, they started to travel more and spent weeks in Florida each winter, where she took up tennis and golf. After 41 years of marriage, Paul had a sudden massive heart attack and she was widowed at only 63, in 1991.
She soon moved permanently to Leesburg, Florida, where other friends had migrated and there, she met the second love of her life, Jan Van Dam, from The Netherlands. They were married on August 19, 1995, and were blessed with almost 28 years together. They enjoyed music, gardened, crafted, and traveled (motor homing, cruising, and exploring Europe) for most of their years together. However, she developed slow-progressing (thankfully) Alzheimer’s, and in 2018, they moved to Bozeman, MT, to be near family. Jan cared for her until his sudden death April 10, 2023. She was never quite the same but bravely carried on, ready and longing (rather impatiently) for God to take her.
Looking back on her life, we remember she had a feisty side at times and was the disciplinarian of the family. She was also known around town for having a bit of a lead foot, rolling through stop signs, forgetting to get gas, and arguing with any officer who had the audacity to stop her. Fortunately, she never got into real trouble. And there was the incident of, “I’m not sure, but I may have hit a deer.” Truthfully, she was quite shy, looking to her two extravert husbands to take the lead in social things, but always supportive of their efforts; and she was able to raise two daughters more outgoing and adventurous than she could comfortably be. She was always kind to others, warmly welcoming visitors to her home and making them feel special, and giving gift baskets, food, crafts, and clothes to many. Hers was a long, well-lived life, and she left the world a better and more beautiful place.
Kathleen was preceded in death by her first grandson, Paul Patrick Waterman; her two husbands, Paul and Jan; her only sibling, Richard Russell of Green Bay; and virtually all her long-time friends. She is survived by her two daughters, Dyanne Russell, of Denver, CO, and Cynthia (Michael) Huempfner of Bozeman; her grandchildren, Shane (Christine) Huempfner, Shannon (Matt) Germain and Melissa (Matt) Gannon; her great-grandchildren, Tyler & Zach Germain, Isabel and Lincoln Huempfner, and Talia Gannon; and her step-great-grandchildren, Marissa and Christopher. She is also survived by Jan’s children, Frank (Karen) Van Dam and Ellen Van Dam (Rick) Zimmerman, The Netherlands; and his grandchildren, as well as nieces and nephews from Paul’s side in California.
We send a special thank you to the staff and people of Spring Creek Inn Memory Care who gave her special care and support during her time there and to Stillwater Hospice who cared for her in her final weeks. We are forever grateful for the role you played in her final months after Jan’s death.
Services will be held on November 25 at 2 pm at Resurrection University Parish in Bozeman, with a rosary beforehand at 1:30 pm. Memorials, if desired, could be given to Doctors Without Borders (her favorite charity) or the Alzheimer’s Association.
Arrangements are in the care of Dokken-Nelson Funeral Service. www.dokkennelson.com
