The world lost a wonderful man on July 18, 2018. Our amazing husband, father, grandfather, brother left his worldly body and went to heaven after a lengthy illness. Jim was born in Milwaukee on March 2, 1954 to Richard and Geraldine (Janik) Blaesius.
Due to his father’s job, Jim lived in several cities including Baltimore and Kansas City. His family came back to Wisconsin and Jim graduated from West Milwaukee High School in June of 1972. After graduation he worked at the Falk Corporation as… Read More » a fork-lift operator.
While taking night classes at UW-Milwaukee he met the love of his life—Mary. They were married at St. Rita’s Church in West Allis on September 19, 1981. Their first daughter, Sara was born in 1982 and they welcomed their second daughter, Megan in 1984.
After working for over 9 years at the Falk Corporation, Jim started working at UW-Milwaukee. He worked at several UW campuses in custodial and maintenance positions. He retired as a maintenance mechanic at UW-Whitewater in May of 2010.
After he retired he loved to drive school bus #1253 for Riteway in Milton and enjoyed sharing all his adventures on his bus route. Jim and Mary loved to hit the road to visit Sara in Iowa plus trips to Las Vegas and Montana. His last trip with Mary was to the Tulip Festival in Holland, Michigan—a trip that was on Mary’s bucket list.
He liked watching the Packers (he owned a piece of the Pack) and the Badgers. Jim was a strong and caring man who loved his family with a fierce passion. He faced his health problems head-on and never complained.
Jim is survived by his loving wife Mary (Houte), daughter Sara (Michael) Ziebell, grandchildren Nicholas, Sam and Maddie of Davenport,Iowa; daughter Megan (Tony) Ellefson, grandchildren Max, Charlie and Lucy of Milton; brother, Marc of Madison; sister Andrea (Terry) Price of Helena, Montana. He is also survived by a brother-in-law Robert (Judy) Houte of Kenosha; brother-in-law Raymond (Deb) Houte of Kenosha; brother-in-law Wayne Koontz (Irene) of North Las Vegas. He is also survived by many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister and brother-in-law, Pam & Ralph Kucharski Jr., father and mother-in-law, Martin & Sophie Houte and sister-in-law, Barbara Koontz. A visitation will be held from 4-7 pm on Wednesday, July 25 at Albrecht Funeral Home in Milton and from 10 am to the time of services at St Mary’s Catholic Church in Milton on Thursday, July 26. A funeral Mass will be held at 11:00 with a luncheon to follow at the church hall.
In lieu of flowers, memorials to the family are appreciated. The family would like to thank the care teams at St Mary’s Hospital in Janesville & Madison as well as Select Specialty Hospital in Madison. A special thanks to Fr.
Pat and the pastoral care staff at St Mary’s Hospital in Madison. Fr. Pat always put a smile on Jim’s face and kept his spirits high.
Jimmy Jam: No more pain, no more discomfort. You were my hero and best friend. There won’t be a day that will go by that you will not be missed.
You are forever in our hearts. Until we meet again…. .
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