Isabel L. Kedrowski

Isabel Loretta Kedrowski, age 97, passed away on April 25, 2023 at the Portage County Health Care Center. She was blessed to live at home until the last two months of her life.
Isabel was born in the Town of Hull on September 27, 1925 to Joseph and Josephine (Jurgella) Brilowski, the only daughter out of eight children. She grew up on their dairy farm and attended Pulaski Grade School and St. Joseph Academy. After graduation she was employed at Hardware Mutual Insurance Company. She married Daniel Kedrowski on June 7, 1947 at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church and had eight children with him. They were married for 68 years until his death in 2016.
Isabel was defined by her generosity…in her time, her talent and her treasure.
Isabel was a generous volunteer. She helped out at her children's schools and activities as a Girl Scout leader, Brownie leader, Cub Scout den mother and room mother. She loved being involved at St. Stanislaus Church as a sacristan and Eucharistic minister, and in the activities of the Rosary Society. She volunteered at the Portage County Health Care Center for twenty-two years. She delivered Meals on Wheels every week for thirty-three years, until she was almost ninety years old.
Isabel was a generous baker and cook. Most famously, she made many batches of sixty paczki to give away before Lent each year…they were "the best" and even the prune filling was generous. Among her children and grandchildren, she was known for her pies. They could always expect one freshly baked when they visited, most often blackberry or rhubarb. Her grandchildren devoured her gallon containers of dill pickles. Everyone enjoyed her homemade candy: peanut brittle, butter toffee and especially Hello Dollies. She loved having her house full of family for holidays and celebrations and prepared most of the food herself. It was mom who always filled a couple of large coolers with food for weekends at the cottage in Minocqua.
Two of Isabel's favorite pastimes were watching sports and playing canasta. She was a dedicated fan of the Badgers, Packers, Brewers and Pacelli High School athletics. Even during her recent hospital stay she perked up to watch Badger basketball. She played canasta from the time her oldest children were toddlers. Her card club started with the neighborhood mothers of twins and evolved over the years with Isabel as the last original member nearly seventy years later. She got great pleasure from watching the birds at the feeders outside her kitchen window…the chickadees were her favorites.
Isabel is survived by her children Kathryn (Arthur Pfizenmayer), Encinitas, California; Mary (David Wood), Wausau; Barbara Weller, West Allis; Peggy (Thomas Gabel), Minocqua; Daniel (Georgia), Ham Lake, Minnesota; Kristine Sullivan, Portland, Maine; and Beth, Stevens Point. She was preceded in death by her husband and son Thomas. Sixteen grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren are saddened to lose a wonderful and generous grandma. She was also preceded in death by her parents, brothers Robert, Chester, Joseph and Myron, and is survived by brothers Donald, Leonard and Norbert. She regarded her sisters-in-law as wonderful friends, as well as the ladies she played canasta with over the years. Many of her nieces and nephews were a loving presence in the life of their Auntie Issie. She touched many lives.
Isabel's children would like to thank the staff of the Portage County Health Care Center and Compassus Hospice Care for the loving care they provided her in the last weeks of her life.
In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to Holy Spirit Parish.
A Mass of Christian Burial for Isabel will be held at 11:00AM on Tuesday May 2nd, 2023, at Holy Spirit Catholic Church-2151 Stanley Street, Stevens Point. Visitation will be held at the church from 9:30AM until the time of services, with a Rosary service being held at 9:15AM. Rev Steve Brice will be officiating. Burial will take place at Guardian Angel Cemetery at a later date. Pisarski Funeral Homes are honored to be serving the family. For online condolences please visit www.pisarskifuneralhome.com