Waltraud "Emy" Gartzke, 95, died peacefully at her home in Middleton on July 9, 2024.  Emy was born March 31, 1929, in Hannover, Germany. She came to the United States in 1951 on a Fullbright Scholarship to study biochemistry at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. She met the former US naval petty officer from Milwaukee, current Harvard law student, and future lawyer and judge, Paul Gartzke, on the ship coming over.  They married August 30, 1952, and their marriage lasted until he died September 29, 2009.

Although Emy and Paul lived and worked in Madison, they had been members of the New Glarus community since they bought land and built their cottage in the Town of Primrose. They so enjoyed their connections here, and it became their second home.

When Emy and Paul built their cottage, they were some of the earliest customers of Bob Bergman, who had just re-opened the Postville Blacksmith shop; the cottage sports of his early handiwork, from the braces, the door hinges, the katy bar brackets.  Paul incorporated Bob's business, then incorporated his life when he performed his wedding with Nana Schowalter.  Paul liked doing weddings, and so he also married Paul Fuchs and Martha Fish on their Primrose land.

For many years, Paul and Emy celebrated Thanksgiving at the cottage, and always made sure they bought their turkey from Hoesly's after Toots saved the family Thanksgiving one year by finding a last-minute turkey big enough to feed the 25 guests expected. Emy sometimes rode her bike into town to shop at the Bakery, or to eat lunch at the New Glarus Hotel with her in-laws, Stanley & Marge Berlow.  When she felt fancy, she would meet her friend Helmut Seaman at Deininger's for drinks. She brought her foreign friends to enjoy fondue at the Glarner Stube, or at the Wilhelm Tell Supper Club after Robbie Schneider (allegedly) introduced the dish to New Glarus. More recently, she introduced her guests to Sugar River Pizza. She would stop at Puempel's to enjoy the murals, and an occasional shot of Appenzeller, poured by Otto Puempel himself back in the day. To our knowledge, Chuck Bigler never got her to throw a dollar into the ceiling.

Emy hired Kaye Gmur as her travel agent (and then invited Kaye to join her on a whale watching expedition), and hired the Lueschows—Lloyd, Karl and Tyler-- to mow the cottage lawn. Paul bought his straw farmer hats at Walt's Toggery, and they both shopped at Roy's "for the best buys" when it was still on Second Street, or bought smoked tongue and limburger cheese at Willi Ruef's Meat Market, "the wurst store in New Glarus."  Sometimes Emy would get a sandwich or a block of cheese from Stuessy's on Second Street. When Paul needed a nursing home, he was welcomed to the New Glarus Home where he spent his final years. The family was thankful for the care he got there from Jane Phillipson's nursing staff. Emy would stay at the Chalet Landhaus or at Hoch Haus on Second Street when she stayed overnight on her frequent visits to Paul or take him to the cottage. She shopped Brenda's Blumenladen for bulbs to plant in spring, and bittersweet to use as decorations for the Thanksgiving celebrations. Paul & Emy hired Kellie Engelke and JoAnn Hoesly to do the decorations for their 50th anniversary using only native plants from their Primrose land.

Emy was a loyal fan of the Wilhelm Tell Play, watching her grandchildren perform as Swiss Miss Dancers, bell ringers, goat boys, soldiers, and Usherettes, or just as peasants. She attended the German version, of course, where she usually ran into her friends Noah "Jay" Kramer, Esta Kramer and E. Louise Kramer--the kids' babysitter, who were really another set of uncle and aunts to the kids.  She thrilled to Howard Christensen as Wilhelm Tell, but probably had more sympathy with Peter Etter as Gessler—after all, he had a better German accent to Emy's North German ear.

Emy enjoyed the German sayings posted throughout town, especially the one on the Bank of New Glarus: "Geld ist weder bös' noch gut, es liegt an dem der's brauchen tut." Emy wholeheartedly endorsed that principle.

Emy and Paul enjoyed attending their grandchildren's spring piano recitals run by Sandy Colstad, where her grandchildren performed duets with their friends Nathan Gabel, Anna Meding and of course Kalie French.

Emy was a member of the New Glarus Historical Society and attended the annual dinners, hosting her friends, Joe & Karla Anderegg. She also attended the annual Harvest Fest to support her family's live action sauerkraut demonstrations where Paul supervised his grandchildren as sauerkrauts processors and compared notes on the craft with Dennis & Marlene Funseth, who took the afternoon sauerkraut demonstration shift.

Emy was herself briefly a New Glarus resident during the Covid spring, when she isolated at Dan & Tracey's house until she was able to go home and return to swimming and her socializing at Middleton Glen.

Emy is survived by her children Ann Bliss (Robert), Dan Gartzke (Tracey Schwalbe) and Alice Berlow (Sam), her "Wahlverwandschaft" Qiujing Lisa Bu, and five grandchildren, Julia Gartzke, Mara Kilbourn (Cody), David Gartzke (Robin Dykema), Max Hammerlow f/k/a Berlow (Lily Hammerlow f/k/a Hammerling Duthoy) and Elijah Berlow, and also by Mark Krummel, Paul Krummel and Deshawn James, and one great-grandson, Zuko Lee Hammerlow, son of Max and Lily.  She is also survived by her sister Christa Carla Herbst in Bremen, her cousin, Rena Wojanowski in Hamburg, her sister-in-law Johanna Von Mayr of Pinetop Arizona, and many other relatives in the United States and Germany.

Emy was preceded in death by her birth father Wilhelm Caspary in 1942, adoptive father Erich Denker in 1969, mother Dora Denker in 1989, husband Paul in 2009, sister Hildegard Jakoby in 2010, and brother-in-law Rüdiger Herbst in 2019.

To find out more about Emy's life outside of New Glarus, join us for a remembrance service to be held at 2:00 pm on Sunday, October 20, 2024, at the Unitarian Meeting House, 900 University Bay Drive in Madison.