Frances "Fran" Kaul

Frances "Fran" (Scharschmidt) Kaul, passed away very peacefully on July 22, 2025. She was 101. She will be remembered by family and friends for her engaged and active life until diagnosed with melanoma brain cancer in June of this year.

Fran's dedication to her family and friends was evident in her numerous and varied homemaking skills. She was an excellent and efficient baker, known for her birthday cakes, baklava, orange cookies, potato torte and a myriad of specialty desserts based on her heritage from "the old country". This last Christmas holiday she baked and frosted dozens of her delightful cut out cookies and sent them to her children and grandchildren (even two of them in Hawaii). She enjoyed counted cross stitch, needle work of all kinds and used her knitting interest to provide afghans, christening blankets, and lap robes for all occasions. She was an accomplished wood worker and made holiday items for family gifts and for charity sales and was an avid gardener her whole life.

Although she loved to play cards since childhood, she learned bridge as a young adult and played it until she became ill this summer. She also loved a good game of sheepshead with family.

Fran was also a sports person, bowling for decades and attending the state tournament a number of years. Her greatest sports enjoyment however was certainly golf. She learned the game as a young adult and played into her 90's. She was a past member of Tuscumbia Country Club in Green Lake Wisconsin where over the years she won the ladies club championship numerous times, the last time in year 2000. She was very proud of her trophies, her two hole in one scores, and her volunteer efforts at the Sara Lee Classic held in Nashville Tennessee.

Frances was born on July 12, 1924, in Oakfield Wisconsin to Felix and Elsie (Grams) Scharschmidt, the middle child of eight children. The family moved in 1939 to farm in Markesan Wisconsin. Fran graduated from the Markesan High School. She became the secretary to the bank president at the Markesan State Bank.

In 1948, Frances married Hazen Kaul, Jr. whose family was the Markesan Canning Company. She and Hazen lived their entire married lives raising their six children in the community there. Hazen preceded her in death in 1987. She is also preceded in death by her siblings: Felicia (Willard) Marquart, Felix (Delores) Scharschmidt, Marie (William) Wepner, Richard Scharschmidt and Rudolph Scharschmidt, brother-in-law, Gordon Warnke and in 2020 by her daughter in law, Lynn Kerns-Kaul and in 2024 by her granddaughter-in-law, Martini Morell-Cady.

Frances is survived by her daughter, Carla (Kendall) Cady and her son, Charles, of Baraboo Wisconsin. She is further survived by sons Peter (Marcia), Richard, Karl (Jennifer) and John all residing in the greater Nashville, Tennessee area. Her sister, Betty Warnke of Ripon, and her brother, John (Judy) Scharschmidt of Markesan, sisters-in-law, Vicki, Virginia and Lois Scharschmidt, also survived by her nine grandchildren, Elizabeth (John), Allison, Josef (Gracie), Nathan, Spencer, Kyle (Rebekah), Jessica (Hans), Hazen, Joshua and eight great grandchildren, numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

A celebration of life will be held to honor Frances on Saturday, August 23, 2025, at Markesan Community Funeral Home, 868 N. Margaret Street, Markesan, Wisconsin. Visitation will begin at 10:00 am and the service at 11:00 am with lunch to follow at the facility. As an expression of sympathy, memorial contributions may be sent to Markesan Community Funeral Home PO Box 344, Markesan, WI 53946, for youth golf and hospice donations to be established by the family.