Elmer Harvey Wokosin, age 93, of Oshkosh, passed away on Saturday, November 7, 2015. He was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on September 8, 1922. He is the son of Fredrick and Alvina (Abraham) Wokosin. Elmer married Eleanor Violet Chapman on June 1, 1946, in Grace Evangelical and United Brethren Church, in Chicago, Illinois, by the Reverend Edgar Ayre, the bride’s uncle.
Elmer was an Army veteran of World War Two, having served in New Guinea, Australia, and the Southwest Pacific area with the 32nd Red Arrow Division from Wisconsin. Elmer met in Australia several host families of American G I’s. They are the Robertson, Zweck, and Rosenzweig families and were still in contact with them seventy years later. Elmer was very active in veteran affairs as he was the Past President of the Winnebago County 32nd Division Red Arrow Post and a Past Commander of the Disabled American Veterans Oshkosh Chapter No. 17. He was Chairman of the Poppy Flowers drive for Disabled Veterans. Mr. Wokosin was also Chairman of the 50th Anniversary Reunion of the mobilization of the three Oshkosh Units of the Wisconsin National Guard on October 15, 1990. Elmer was a member of the Oshkosh Patriotic Council and was Co-Chairman as well as one of the speakers at the 50th Anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1994. Mr. Wokosin, along with his son Daniel, flew to Washington D.C. on one of the first Honor Flights that paid respect to the veterans at the World War Two War Memorial.
A journeyman carpenter by trade, Elmer worked twenty years for the Ben B. Ganther Co., retiring as a job superintendent. He supervised numerous buildings built in Oshkosh such as the Martin Lutheran Church and Howard Johnson’s Restaurant and Lodge as well as other building works in and around the state of Wisconsin. In the next twenty years of Elmer’s career, he was employed at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh as Director of Maintenance and Repair. He attended and earned a Certification in Maintenance Management from the schools of Drake, Eau Claire, Madison, Marquette, and Whitewater Universities.
Mr. Wokosin was a member of Peace Lutheran Church for over 70 years, where he served three terms on the church council, and taught Sunday school for twelve years. In 1976 while Elmer served on their Cemetery Board, he successfully led a campaign to enact a state vandalism law with the assistance and support of then State Representative Carol Roessler. This Wisconsin law fines and takes away the driver licenses of anyone caught vandalizing cemeteries.
Mr. Wokosin became a thirty-second degree mason and a member of the Scottish Rite in the Green Bay Consistory. Elmer was a Past Worshipful Master of Oshkosh Lodge No. 27, a Free and Accepted Masons organization, a Past Watchman of Shepherds of Bethel Shrine No. 2, of the White Shrine of Jerusalem. He was also a member of the Grottos of North America, a member of Tripoli Shrine Temple in Milwaukee, a Past President of the Winnebagoland Shrine Club, and was elected a Tall Cedar in the Tall Cedars of Lebanon. And, Mr. Wokosin was a member of the Hundred Million Dollar Club for Shrine Hospitals.
Elmer was a member of Far Vu Men’s Senior Golf League and a lifetime member of the Oshkosh Museum Auxiliary. He also served as master of ceremonies at numerous retirement parties, masonic, and veteran activities. He was well known as a master poet as he wrote many humorous poems for retirements, anniversaries, and birthdays of his family and friends. He was also known as a story teller, and played Santa Claus for various organizations. Elmer was a continuous supporter of the Salvation Army as a bell ringer for many, many years bringing with him his own miniature Santa Claus and Snoopy bell ringers. Elmer had a hobby of taking pictures and showed his slides to various organizations of old buildings of long ago Oshkosh. He also won a blue ribbon in an amateur photo contest in Oshkosh, and was also well known for running out of film at any event he attended.
Elmer is survived by his wife Eleanor of 69 years, one son Daniel (Carolyn) Wokosin of Gays Mills, Wisconsin, and one daughter Deborah (David) Traugott of Diamond Bar, California. He has two step-grandchildren and three step-great grandchildren in western Wisconsin. Elmer has 19 nieces and nephews and numerous grand and great-grand nieces and nephews. Elmer was the last surviving Wokosin from a family of ten brothers and sisters. They all have preceded him in death along with his parents. They are as follows: Emma Ziebell, Hilda Miller, Frieda Lentz, Erna Juedes, June Fenrich, Walter, Edwin, Fred, and Arthur Wokosin.
Visitation will take place on Friday, November 13, 2015, at Seefeld Funeral Home, from the hours of 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. A church service will take place on Saturday, November 14, 2015, at St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, 808 N. Main St., Oshkosh, at 11:00 a.m. with a one hour visitation preceding the service. Internment with full military honors is to follow at Lakeview Memorial Park.
A memorial will be established in Elmer’s name to the Shriner’s Hospitals for Children. Special recognition and gratitude is extended by the family to Roxanne Lemieux, the staff at Bethel Home Serenity Gardens, and Chaplain Vicki Marxen, for their angelic care of Dad.

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