Gussie Fennern (Augusta Bertha DeGroat) was born in White Earth, Minnesota on June 12th, 1929 (“the year of the crash!” as she liked to remind everyone - referencing the famed Wall Street crash of 1929.) She was born to parents Harry Harrison DeGroat and Emma Augusta Blank. She was the second youngest of ten siblings, and at around five years of age, the family moved by horse-drawn wagon 200 miles south to Redwood Falls, Minnesota. There she graduated high school, despite the difficulties of wartime, and met Donald Gustav Fennern, who made the grave mistake of gifting her a suitcase instead of a diamond ring for her 18th birthday. Gussie used her new suitcase to move to Mankato, MN, to live and work with a friend for about a year in an ice cream factory, before being happily married to Donald on May 1st, 1948 (as he did eventually get her the ring).

In 1951 they moved to Amery, Wisconsin, where Don worked as a watch repairman in a corner of Chet Johnson's Drugstore. Don eventually established his own watch repair business, where Gussie convinced him they should also sell jewelry, and thus she found her natural born calling as an entrepreneur, and wildly charismatic saleswoman. When asked what her favorite decades were, after nearly a century of life, she confidently said “all the years we ran the store.” The Fennern Jewelry Store was a cornerstone of Main Street Amery for close to 40 years, where Don and Gussie successfully worked, raised five children, and purchased a 59 acre farm on the Apple River, which has now been the family home since 1960. In 2023 her son Paul moved home, allowing her to spend her final years at the farm, a place of many warm memories for family and friends.

Gussie is survived by 5 children, John, Paul, Sheryl (Paul), Eric (Nancy), and Annette (John), as well as 7 grandchildren, Heather (Zack), Wade, Luke (Amy), Allison (Maddie), Abby (Dakota), Bryn (Zach), and Sam, two great grandchildren Dylan and Levi, and many in-laws and extended family.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her siblings and their spouses, her grandson Kenneth Winston Cain, Douglas Voss, her daughter in law Nancy Fennern, and her husband of 55 years, Donald.

She died peacefully in her sleep at Golden Age Manor (Amery), aged 95, surrounded by her loving family during her final days, on Thursday, February 20th, 2025, after a long, active, and event-filled life.

Her family welcomes all to her Celebration of Life on Saturday, March 22nd, 2025 at East Immanuel Lutheran Church in Amery, WI, with visiting at 11:00 am and the funeral following at 12:00 pm noon.

Last Update: Mar 17, 2025 9:27 am CDT