Passing of Elizabeth Panzram Noetzel (100), WHS 1923
Elizabeth Panzram Noetzel, a former resident of Waseca, passed away July 18, 2007, in Bloomington MN at age 100. She was the mother of a large family. I knew her son Steve (WHS 1958) and daughters Mary Noetzel Giese (WHS 1960) and Tina Noetzel Madson (WHS 1962), the younger siblings, well from school and church. I had recently learned from Tina that Mrs. Noetzel was still living in a Bloomington MN nursing home and I had discussed visiting her to have her tell me some of the early stories of Waseca and school life. Regretably, I wasn’t able to visit her before she died.
Elizabeth must have been one of the earliest living graduates of Waseca Central School, if not the earliest (are there others who graduated in 1923 or before?), although I know she wasn’t the oldest living graduate (Archie Lortis – WHS 1925 - turned 102 in March). She attended the old Central School before it burned in 1923, her senior year. After the school burned, students attended classes in local churches and halls and the 1923 senior class graduation exercises were held in the Palace Theatre.