Paul William Klinzing, age 60, made his journey to Life Eternal on March 20, 2018.
Paul was born on May 22, 1957 in New London, Wisconsin to the late Everett and Helen (Schroeder) Klinzing. He was united in marriage to his beloved, dedicated, and caring wife Marjorie (Summerfield) Klinzing on October 15, 1983. On one of his final days, when Marge said, “This is your best day yet,” Paul replied, “No, October 15, 1983 was the best day ever.” Paul grew up in New London, Wisconsin and graduated from New London High School. He was proud to be a Bulldog. In 1979 he received a Bachelor of Science in Parks and Recreation from UW-La Crosse. Since 1979 he has been the Park Director and City Forester for the City of Monroe. His career allowed him to pursue a true passion. He demonstrated his love for parks and forestry by maintaining the parks to an immaculate level of beauty for the community to enjoy. Paul took great pride in expanding the Monroe park system with new playgrounds, shelters, and planting over 2000 trees in his 38 dedicated years. A heartfelt thank-you to his many seasonal and full-time staff who made his work so enjoyable, especially the summers he employed his son-in-law Josh (currently the Parks Public Works and Forestry Superintendent in Slinger, following in his father-in-law’s footsteps) and his son Kyle. His career highlight was building a new playground at Lincoln Park with Green Bay Packer players and alumni in 2013. He was a lifelong fan of the Green Bay Packers, season ticket holder, team shareholder, and lifetime member of the Packer Hall of Fame. He had a large collection of Packer memorabilia and looked forward to buying a new Packer hat each time he visited Lambeau Field. His passion for statistics helped him to quickly recall the starting offensive line for the 1966 Super Bowl I Champion Green Bay Packers, in addition to numerous other little known team stats and facts. He was also a Wisconsin Men’s Basketball season ticket holder and enjoyed attending games with Marge, Kyle, and best friend Bob. He loved coaching Kyle in sports as a child and attending all of his games. As a member of Union Presbyterian Church, Paul was often found helping with church yardwork and landscaping projects. On Saturday mornings he enjoyed watching Waters and Woods with John Gillespie followed by time spent working in his yard and washing his vehicles. Each summer for the past 30 years he looked forward to getting his little red fishing boat out on the Chain of Lakes in Three Lakes, WI with his fishing buddies Kyle, Josh, Brandon, and Steve. He loved his annual family vacation to Three Lakes each summer more than anything. Paul will be fondly remembered by his family and many friends for his kindness, compassion, patience, strong work ethic, and his sense of humor. Family was very important to Paul and he was especially proud of his children and grandchildren. He loved watching his daughter Jenna be a mother to his precious grandchildren and appreciated her excitement for hosting family gatherings and special celebrations. He was incredibly proud of his son Kyle upon the completion of his Doctorate Degree in Physical Therapy. Paul and Kyle were always talking and texting about sports and player statistics. In the last five years, being a grandparent to Kayden (5) and Karley (3) was Paul’s pride and joy. They loved all of “grandpa’s parks” and “grandpa’s ducky pool” in Monroe, babysitting for the weekend, playing legos with Kayden and kitchen set with Karley, as well as making the two hour road trip for any of the kid’s programs and activities.
He is survived by his wife of 34 years, Marjorie of Monroe; daughter Jenna (Josh) Trame of Slinger; son Kyle Klinzing (fiancée Taylor Edmonds) of Sussex; grandchildren, Kayden and Karley Trame; two sisters, Jane Klinzing of Janesville, Mary (Bruce) McKay of Washington Island and brother David (Tammy) Klinzing of New London; parents-in-law Evan and Helen Summerfield of Wilton; sisters-in-law, Sandra Summerfield of Oconomowoc, Nancy (Steve) Laabs of Waukesha, and Donna Rueckheim of Sparta; brothers-in-law, David (Laurie) of Arvada, Colorado, James (Connie) Summerfield of Wilton, Kevin Summerfield of Jefferson, and Brian (Melissa) Summerfield of Wilton; two godsons, Brandon Laabs and Mark Anthony Von Ruden; his dear friends of 27 years and second family in Monroe, Dr. Robert and Linda Cates and their children, Charlie, Tony, and Miranda. These special friends called him “Pauly”, a name only they called him. He is further survived by several nieces, nephews, other relatives and dear friends.
The funeral service will be held on Wednesday, March 28th at 1p.m. at the Union Presbyterian Church in Monroe with the Rev. Dr. Philip Jones and Rev. Dr. Sue Ellis Melrose co-officiating. Burial will immediately follow the service at Greenwood Cemetery in Monroe. Visitation will be held from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 27th at the Shriner-Hager-Gohlke Funeral Home in Monroe. In honor of Paul and the things he enjoyed please wear a Packer, Badger, or Park and Recreation shirt to the visitation. Following the visitation a lighted balloon release will take place at the Twining South Shelter. In lieu of flowers a Memorial Fund has been established. Condolences may be sent to the family at: shriner111.com