Dennis Meulemans

Dennis Meulemans (Denny) - Age 75, went home to be with Jesus, his Lord and Savior, on Jan. 5, 2023. Denny was born on Aug. 8, 1947, to the late Norbert and Cecelia (Verhagen) Meulemans, in Wrightstown. He married Christy Janssen on Dec. 23, 1975. Together they had many wonderful adventures all over the world. Their biggest adventure of course was raising their six rambunctious children on their hobby farm in Cato. Denny grew up on a dairy farm in Wrightstown and always kept his love for farming and farmers. He graduated high school in De Pere at Abbot Pennings in 1965. He went on to the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he studied agriculture. At graduation time, he was technically two credits short due to often skipping his “Marriage and the Family'' class, which became a running joke in the Meulemans family because he, of course, went on to be happily married for 47 years and a proud, very involved father of six. He later worked on his agricultural Master’s Degree at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. In his career, he taught agriculture at East De Pere High School, D.C. Everest High School, and Valders High School. Later he went on to work as a feed and seed salesman, and also as a crop inspector for the State of Wisconsin. In the 1970s, he spent time in the Peace Corps working with agriculture students to eradicate tick-borne illnesses, and his experiences gave him a deep love for the people, country, and language of Kenya — even giving his daughter Meghan, a Swahili middle name — Malaika or “Angel.” It was always his dream to return to Africa and in 2007, he was able to go back with some of the family to spend the summer in Uganda working with the non-profit African Children’s Mission. He was a kind, giving, and joyous person and made friends wherever he went. He loved God, his family, travel, fishing, photography, coaching his sons in baseball, and telling (and laughing at his own) jokes. He had an affinity for duct tape, even using it to make a makeshift Santa beard out of cotton balls to use on a visit to a local nursing home. His mischievous grin and fun personality will be remembered and cherished by all that knew him. Denny will be forever in the hearts of his loving family: wife: Christy Meulemans; son: Abe (Becky) Meulemans and their children: Clay, Gavin, Maddox, and Lilly; daughter: Meghan (Ken) Skrepenski and their children: Grace and Amelia; daughter: Joy (Mick) Kleinhans and their children: Max and Gus; son: Jon (Kayla) Meulemans and their son: Harry and baby due May 2023; son: Zack (Linette) Meulemans and their children: Isabelle, Liam, and Haiden; son: Joe (Annie) Meulemans and their daughter: Margot; father-in-law: Dr. Willard Janssen; sister-in-law: Monica Meulemans; siblings: Ken (Lynn) Meulemans, Diane (Jerome) Schreiber, Joyce (Glenn) Hansen, and Jeff (Carol) Meulemans; in-laws: Angel Janssen (Reid Susmark), Beth Janssen (Paul Klein), Mark Janssen (Meg Doolan), Gil-Marie Janssen (Dan Carr), Jack (Jan) Janssen, Greg (Rosie) Janssen, Jo-Ellen (Bryan) Randolph and many nieces, nephews, other relatives, and friends. Denny was preceded in death by his parents: Norbert and Cecelia Meulemans; mother-in-law: Mary Jo Janssen; brother: Vern Meulemans; sister: Donna Uitenbroek, and brother-in-law: Paul Uitenbroek.