Phyliss Ione Goltz died on Wednesday, January 22, 2025 surrounded by family and faith. Phyliss, daughter of Cecil and Evelyn Carpenter, was born in a small house on the John Carpenter homestead on June 25, 1935. Her childhood was filled with stories made with her brother Evan, blueberry picking with Grandpa and Grandma Conlon (who she adored),  many different pets, and making wonderful memories with the many cousins, aunts, uncles, and neighbors nearby. She always preferred to be outside, helping her father on the farm, a joy that carried through the rest of her life. Once she was old enough to drive, she began fostering another life long passion, polka dancing, driving to dances as much as she could with her brother. Phyliss was also proud of her Irish heritage.

She graduated from Clintonville High School on May 26, 1953 and then began working at Appleton Home Mutual. Later in her adult life she worked as an operator at Urban Telephone Company where she loved meeting new people, especially her future husband Floyd Fritz, who she married in 1959. She and Floyd built a life and home together, raising their three children until he passed away in 1991. Her other jobs included working at Clintonville Public School and becoming a mother, or as she called it “being a domestic engineer.”

Throughout her life, God blessed and cared for her in many ways. After Floyd’s passing, Phyliss met John Brunner and the two married in 1996, spending years traveling together before his passing in 2005. Later in life, she was blessed to continue building a life with Don Goltz, the two married in 2010 and made many memories until his passing in 2020.

Phyliss took great pride in being an active member of her community, especially attending weekly services at Christus Lutheran Church. She served her congregation in many roles over the years. However, her greatest treasure was the faith she instilled in all of her family. Phyliss could always be counted on to help whenever the need arose. She marveled at how her family grew; the bigger it got, the bigger her heart was. Her home was always filled with chatter from family, the racket of card games in progress, and photos documenting all the major events of the lives of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Her cupboard was always filled with cookies and baked goods to share.

She was preceded in death by her parents Cecil and Evelyn (Conlon) Carpenter, grandparents John and Evaline (Geer) Carpenter, and William and Mary Ann (McClone) Conlon, brother Evan Carpenter, and husbands Floyd Duane Fritz, John Henry Brunner, and Donald Lee Goltz. She is survived by her children David and Judy (Bergsbaken) Fritz, Diane (Fritz) and Jim Fuhrman, and Bruce and Karen (Wilson) Fritz, her grandchildren Megan (Fuhrman) and Rev. Dean Suehring, Michael and Sheri (Kirchner) Fuhrman, Kaitlin (Fuhrman) and Brent Bricco, Tom Fritz, Emily (Fritz) and Jason Wesenick, and Elizabeth Fritz, and by great-grandchildren Jacob, Andrew, and Evelyn Suehring, Matthew Fuhrman, and June and Violet Bricco. She is also survived by in-laws Bonnie Carpenter, Janet Fritz, and Duane Fritz along with the Goltz and Brunner family members.

A memorial service for family and friends will be held at Christus Lutheran Church on Tuesday, January 28, 2025 with the Rev. Brian Crocker officiating. Visitation begins at 9am until time of the service at Noon. Following the service, interment will take place at Graceland Cemetery. A meal will be served at the church.

The family asks that any memorials be directed to Christus Lutheran Church.

The Eberhardt-Stevenson Funeral Home & Crematory, Clintonville is assisting Phyliss’ family.

An online guestbook is available at eberhardtstevenson.com.