Amy Lynne Holzwart

Amy Lynne Holzwart was born December 10, 1959, in Elmhurst, Illinois, to Arlene R. Rasmussen (nee McKnight) and Russell F. Rasmussen. She came to Wisconsin in 1962 and grew up in Germania, WI, with an idyllic childhood playing with her brothers and sisters, and her closest cousins living next door. She attended Montello High School, played basketball, ran track, was Prom Queen and graduated in 1978 with a basketball scholarship (at a time when women didn’t get sports scholarships) She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education and Health from UW Oshkosh in 1982. She participated in the Miss Wisconsin/USA after college and obtained her Master’s Degree from Viterbo College.

Amy married James C. Holzwart on August 26, 1989. Together they built a home and filled it with love, laughter, adventures, and yellow labrador retrievers. Jim and Amy made maple syrup under the name of J&A Syrup for many years. Everyone who knew them was gifted with a bottle of amber love.

Amy had several interesting jobs growing up: babysitting, salad girl at the Moose Inn, de-tassling corn, chicken deboning at Brakebush, sheared Christmas trees (not very long), silk screened t-shirts at First Impressions, golf cart hospitality girl at Two Oaks Golf Course, and worked as an Administrative Assistant at a Wautoma Law Office. Amy, a dedicated teacher, taught in the Montello School District for the first year of her career and then at the Wautoma Area School District until her retirement in 2015. Many of her students loved her and knew her as Mrs. H. or Miss R.

She loved sports and was an avid pickleball player. She loved biking, hiking, cross country skiing, and golfing. She played baseball and sand volleyball for many years. She rode her bike in several charity events every year and her favorites were the Bike to the Beat (Appleton), and the Badger Challenge (Madison). She loved the outdoors and camped, fished, hunted turkeys, and hunted pheasants with her beloved dogs. She loved being in the mountains and the wilderness, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota. She hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and to the top of Ben Nevis in Scotland, and many places in between. She was active in the local chapter of the Ice Age Trail Alliance in Waushara County, and spent time as the Secretary, and a “Blaze Girl” helping with marking the local trail segments.

She was the family’s designated Putaclub (Norwegian potato dumpling), Broccoli Salad, and Thanksgiving pie maker. She loved working in her garden and canned tomatoes, pickles, salsa, and made the best dilly beans. She always had a smile on her face and a giving heart. She was a positive person and always looked for the good in others. To know Amy, was to love Amy. Avid Badger and Green Bay Packers fans, Amy and Jim attended many home Packer games, and went to several Badger Football games, including the Sun Bowl in Texas, and a Rose Bowl in California. Amy and Jim attended an away game for every original BIG 10 Badger opponent, except Maryland, over several fall seasons. Amy enjoyed traveling and visited several different countries. She experienced some “once in a life” time trips and was able to go on safari in Kenya and Tanzania, cruised down the River Ness in Scotland (never saw Nessie), hiked and zip lined in the Costa Rican rain forest, and fished in Prince William Sound in Alaska. As much as Amy enjoyed traveling, she loved being at home walking her trails, working in her garden, or sitting on her deck with Jim and her dogs.

Amy was predeceased by her parents, Arlene and Russell Rasmussen; a sister, Martha Eastburn Price McDeVitt; her father-in-law, Ruben Holzwart; a nephew, Kyle J. Holzwart; and her grandparents, Clara and Keith McKnight.

She is survived by her husband, James; sisters and brothers, Bonnie (Rich) Jaillet, Pembroke, New Hampshire, William (Anne) Rasmussen Land O Lakes, Florida, Dawn (Timothy) DeBraal Wautoma, WI, and Gary (Sandy) Rasmussen, Waukesha, WI; mother-in-law, Naomi Holzwart, Sheboygan, WI; brother-in-law Todd (special friend Patti) Holzwart, Appleton; and sister-in-law Dawn Guschl, Port Washington, WI (special friend Bill), and several nieces and nephews, great-nieces and nephews.

The family thanks Hospice and the staff of Montello Care Center for their end-of-life care. She was taken from us too soon and has left a hole in our hearts.