Ella J. Koch

Ella Josephine (Metzler) Koch left this world on August 23, 2017, to dance in the dandelions in Heaven with her parents, Joseph and Josephine Metzler. Ella came into this world, a strong and determined child, weighing in at a little over 2 pounds, on March 24, 1931. She relished her childhood in Beaver Dam, WI, playing hopscotch and jumping rope in the neighborhoods on Maple St., South St. and Bogart Street. She was extremely proud of her Austrian heritage. Her mother, a lace-maker, and father, a farmer, emigrated to the United States in 1930. 



Always a hard worker, Ella, an only child, worked throughout her teen years as a cherry-picker in Door County, a cheese-maker at Zemp’s Cheese Factory, and as a waitress at Hotel Rogers in Beaver Dam to help support the family. 



In 1952, she graduated from the St. Agnes School of Nursing (Marian University) with a degree in Nursing. 



Immediately following graduation, she worked in the neurological unit at the VA Hospital in Milwaukee. 



On April 14, 1956, she married the love of her life, Joseph Koch, at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Beaver Dam. 



Together they farmed the Koch family homestead, a 270-acre piece of heaven in the Town of Ashford. 



Ella wanted a large family, and soon had eight children to love and care for. 



Ella, though small in stature, was larger than life. 



She was fair and loyal and lived by the motto, “To Thine Own Self Be True”. 



She worked tirelessly in the home and on the farm, and had no tolerance for complainers. 



A brilliant woman, Ella read voraciously and was unmatched in her knowledge of nature, history and world politics. 



She had a heart of gold–cows, cats, chickens, crickets and even spiders–all God’s creatures found sanctuary in her tenderness. 



She found beauty in the lilacs of spring, the gentle summer breeze, the warm, late afternoon glow over the fields during harvest time, and Jack Frost on the window panes in the chill of winter.