Aletha A. Godager, known by everyone as “Tip”, died peacefully on October 9th, 2018 at Schmitt Woodland Hills Retirement Community in Richland Center after a long illness. She was born on her family’s farm in Basswood on February 26th, 1929, the third child of Robert Hardy and Phyllis Shafer. She grew up helping out on the farm as all kids of that generation did, learning to drive a tractor that had hand brakes, and often making a lunch to take with her when she was sent to a far field to retrieve… Read More » cows for milking, which is probably where she developed her love of long walks.
After she was graduated from Muscoda High School in 1947, she attended the Richland County Normal Teacher’s School for one year and obtained her teaching certificate. Her first job was at the one-room Hanson School near Boaz, where she taught 12 children spanning 8 grades. In wintertime, her first duty of the day was to arrive early enough to build a fire in the pot-bellied stove so that the room would be warm by the time the children arrived.
Subsequently, she also taught at the Consolidated School, Eagles Corners School, and the Blue River school. She married Roger E. Godager of Blue River on July 24th, 1954. After he completed mortuary training in Milwaukee, they moved to Muscoda and took over operating the local funeral home from Delbert Rasque and Roy Godager, Roger’s father.
She stopped teaching full-time after starting a family in 1962, though she continued to work as a substitute teacher in the Riverdale school system for many years. Undoubtedly, many local people of a certain age remember having her as a teacher, and she was that rare sub that often was more strict and exacting than the teacher she was replacing. While raising her family, she took night school classes at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, and in 1973 she earned her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education.
She was also very active in many local endeavors, often behind the scenes and more interested in getting the task accomplished than taking credit for it. She worked to help develop Pickering Park and the sidewalk that now crosses through it. She was a member of the Muscoda Garden Club for many years and helped to bring the Muscoda Prairie into existence.
She also was a driving force behind replacing the old swimming pool with the new one that is in place today, an issue that was somewhat controversial at the time, as many people did not want their taxes raised for such a project. As a co-owner of the Godager Funeral Home, she knew firsthand the danger of the Wisconsin River and the risk there would be to local youth if the swimming pool was allowed to close. Though it lost her a few friendships in the end, she felt it a cost worth bearing for the good of the community.
She was a Den Mother of the local Cub Scout troop, a member of Crime Stoppers Grant County, and never missed an athletic event, either home or away, of her two sons as they competed during their school years. She was a long-time member of the United Presbyterian Church of Muscoda, as well as a card-carrying member of the Democratic Party, and in later years, a member of a local Red Hat Society. She was preceded in death by her parents, brothers Harold and Richard, sister Roberta, and niece Pamela, and sisters-in-law Jean and Bonnie.
She is survived by her sons Tedd, of San Francisco, and Kirtt (Tara), of Madison, as well as her grandchildren, Adeline and Samuel, Madison, brother-in-law Donald Kovars and an aunt, Evelyn Shafer, both of Florida, and other nephews and a niece. Funeral services and burial will be held on Saturday, October 13th at 11:00 am, at the Basswood Union Church, which was built on land donated by her family, and where she was married. A visitation will be held on Friday, October 12 from 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm at the Godager Pratt Funeral Home in Muscoda and again at the Basswood Union Church on Saturday from 10:00 AM until the time of the service at 11:00 am.
She will be missed and remembered warmly by all that knew her. The Pratt Funeral and Cremation Service is assisting the family with their arrangements.
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