Honorine Catherine Elverman
Died: Saturday, November 18, 2006
Age: 90

Honorine Catherine Elverman, 90, formerly of Salem Township, died Sunday, Nov. 18, 2006, at Arbor Village Assisted Living Residence in Lake Geneva, where she resided for the past three years.

Born in Massey, Ontario, Canada, on Aug. 28, 1916, she was the daughter of the late Timothy J. and Bernadette Cadotte Kelly of Spanish, Ontario.

She received her First Class Interim Teaching Certificate at North Bay Normal School in July of 1935 and continued her education by mail and in subsequent summers at the University of Toronto and the University of Western Ontario at London, Ontario, from which she received her bachelor's degree and First Class Permanent Teaching Certificate.

At the age of 19, in January 1936, Honorine became the first teacher at the new Catholic Indian School at Sagamok on the Spanish River Reserve. She taught there for four and one-half years. In 1940, she accepted a position in Kapuskasing, a town near James Bay, built by the Kimberly-Clark Company of Neenah. The workers were mainly French-Canadian, in the paper mill, the bush, the stores. The bosses were American, many from Wisconsin, and Honorine had her first Wisconsin connection by teaching their children. She also taught at a very rural school in Neustadt in southern Ontario, and in Cargill, Ontario.

There was a column which ran in some Catholic Diocesan newspapers called "Pens Across the State." Honorine's sister, Mary, asked Honorine if she would like to join. Honorine received letters from some young men in both the U.S. and Canada, but the only American letter she answered was from a Wisconsin farmer, about 24 at the time, named Bill Elverman, or William, as he always wrote it. Farming seemed like an interesting line of work, so she wrote to him. During the years at her various teaching position she didn't really keep up the correspondence, except for Christmas cards. However, when Honorine responded to a birthday card Bill sent to her in 1944, Bill asked if he could come to visit, so during the Christmas season that year, he visited Spanish for the first time. On the way home from a New Year's Eve party, on a very cold Jan. 1, 1945, Bill asked Honorine to marry him. Somewhat to her surprise, she accepted his proposal, and on Aug. 28, 1945, they were married at St. Peter Claver Church in Spanish.

Honorine and Bill lived on the dairy farm he operated outside of Silver Lake. After their four children were in school, Honorine returned to teaching after Wisconsin certification through classes at Dominican College in Racine. She taught at Lakewood School in Twin Lakes, at South Bristol, was a teaching principal at Wilmot Grade School, a regular classroom teacher at the newly consolidated Bristol Grade School, a teaching principal at Trevor Grade School and finished her teaching career as a regular classroom teacher at Trevor. She and retired in 1976. She substituted in area schools until 1978, and then decided to move on to the next phase of her life, volunteering and community involvement.

Honorine believed in social justice and the organizations she belonged to reflected that. She was a member of the now disbanded Burlington Human Rights Group and she was a founding member of Kenoshans Against Sexual Assault, which has evolved into Women's and Children's Horizons Inc. She also belonged to Common Cause, Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Organization of Women, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, Lambda Legal Fund, and was a fearless spokesperson in the days when master contracts were in their infancy as a member of the Kenosha County Teachers' Association. She had always been a member of the Wisconsin Education Association Council and continued that affiliation as a member of WEAC-Retired.

Other community groups were the Kenosha County Association for Home and Community Education, the Lyceum Club of Burlington, Friends of the Community Library, and she was a longtime board member, along with her husband Bill, of the Western Kenosha County Historical Society.

Honorine loved to read, enjoyed meeting new people, was an avid conversationalist, was sought our for her wise counsel by family and friends, and was known for her ecumenical approach to others' beliefs and lives.

She is survived by her daughter, Bernadette (Darlene Reiter), Randall Township; her sons, Timothy (Dennis Miller), Milwaukee, and Dennis (Andrea), Twin Lakes; grandsons, Bill (Natalie), Glendale, Calif.; and Dennis, Milwaukee; her foster son, Ralph (Terri) Koch, Sheboygan, their children, Krista (Jeff) Cira, Chicago, and Jeff Koch, Sheboygan; a brother, John (Linda) Kelly, Spanish, Ontario; a brother-in-law, Robert Elverman, Scottsdale, Ariz.; and many nieces and nephews in the U.S. and Canada.

Honorine was preceded in death by her husband, Bill (William Louis); her son, Bill (William Charles); two sisters, Mary Hayes and Constance Boyce; and one brother, Tim Kelly.

Visitation and a funeral service Friday, Nov. 24, 2006, from 9 a.m. until noon at the Haase-Derrick-Lockwood Funeral Home in Twin Lakes. Private internment at Holy Name of Jesus Cemetery, Wilmot. Memorials may be made to Women's and Children's Horizons or the Western Kenosha County Historical Society.