Laura (Lollie) Millis Triebold passed away on October 19, 2021 in the comfort of her home and on her own terms following a short bout with cancer. Laura was born February 1, 1940 to Leslie and Doris (Hunt) Engel, the only one of 9 to live past infancy.
She attended Campus School (at now UW-Whitewater) from kindergarten through high school, graduating as class valedictorian in 1958. Schooling continued at Skidmore College in Sarasota Springs, NY with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing, graduating in 1962, again as class valedictorian. Never wanting to stop learning, Laura earned a Master’s degree in Guidance and Counseling from UW-Whitewater in 1975, and a Master’s degree in Nursing from Marquette University in 1995.
Laura was united in marriage to David Triebold on October 26, 1963. More schooling was acquired in a hands on manner as the city girl learned how to milk cows, drive a tractor, and master the many other jobs required on a working dairy farm, which eventually transitioned to a crop farm. Three girls were born into the family: Kathleen in 1964, Kristine in 1966, and Karla in 1967. All three girls mastered Laura’s ability to balance work and family life, and became strong independent goal oriented women who shared her love of learning. She never obtained her initial wish for three daughters to work for three different airlines so she could take advantage of the family travel discounts. Instead, she gained three professionals: an accountant, a doctor, and a lawyer.
Laura loved to work, be it in the nursing field, the farming field or the rental property field. Her work life began in 1962 as the head nurse of Pediatric Surgery at the Presbyterian Hospital (now Rush Memorial) where she stayed until her marriage to Dave. From 1967-1971, she was a Visiting Nurse for Walworth County. In 1971, she became an instructor for the LPN program at the Madison Area Technical College-Fort Atkinson campus. Laura retired in 1999 after 28 years of teaching. While teaching for MATC, she was honored to be invited by the NCLEX Association to write for the National LPN exam not once, but twice. Laura took pride in her nursing students, wanting them to succeed in life by empowering them to work hard to obtain their goals, and to believe in themselves, which helped propel them into becoming exemplary, caring nurses.
After her official retirement, Lollie continued working with Dave on the farm, as well as managing their rental properties. Her relaxation consisted of planting and watering her flowers during the spring and summer, writing “Burt Letters,” and schooling and kicking her family’s derriere in Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. She enjoyed planning traveling trips both domestic and international. Destinations included most of the 50 states, the Caribbean, Central America, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, Thailand, and Russia. For the past 20 years, Torremolinos, Spain became a favorite wintertime destination. New friends were made on every trip. Soon, each of the new friends found their name and address inserted into Laura’s infamous and ever growing old-school address card box. All of these new friends benefited from Laura’s love of correspondence through her Christmas Tabloid newsletter. In it, she would regale her readers with tales of her life with family and friends on the farm. She was the wordsmith that kept these many people connected, always slipping in a new vocabulary word or two, which required the use of the good ole Webster’s Dictionary. Who even knew what the words accoutrements, assiduous, behemoth, bucolic, cloven, paucity, pensive, prognosticators, repertoire, and solace meant? Thank you Lol for the vocabulary lesson! These new friends and their extended families from around the world always had an open invitation to spend time on “The Triebold Farm,” enjoying Dave and Laura’s hospitality.
Laura is survived by her husband David; 3 daughters, Kathleen (Jeff) Markham, Kristine (Phil) Welter, Karla (Jeff) Mortara; 6 grandchildren, JJ (Jess), Josie (Wyatt), Kristina, Keira, Alexandra, and Andrew. The grandkids were forbidden to call her grandma as she was never old enough to be a grandma, instead, she was Lollie.
Memorials for Laura should be sent to the Whitewater Food Pantry, iHOPE (www.yai.org/iHOPE), Lauderdale LaGrange Fire Department.
In Lollie’s honor, a traditional “Triebold Farms” party will be held in the Summer of 2022.
Special thanks to “Laura’s Ladies” – the caregivers that helped all of us through the last few months, Karen, Lisa, Donna, Elizabeth, Kelly, Nikki, and Anne, and Rainbow Hospice.
Nitardy Funeral Home is aiding the family. Online condolences may be made at nitardyfuneralhome.com
