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University of Wisconsin Oshkosh alumna Harriet (Krueger) Kussman ’31, of Amherst, died Monday at the age of 106.

Kussman, who had been the oldest-known living UW Oshkosh alumna, obtained teaching credentials from UWO as well as Green Lake County Normal. She taught in elementary schools in Green Lake County, Rhinelander and Portage County. She also spent 15 years at home raising children and helping her husband on the farm.

She was active in church and community work, as well as compiling several family genealogies.

A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, July 10, at the Peace Lutheran Church in Amherst, with Pastor Gretchen Anderson officiating. Burial will be in Greenwood Cemetery in Amherst.

Visitation will be at the Jungers-Holly Funeral Home in Amherst from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 9, and at the church from 10 a.m. Thursday until the service.

Kussman was born May 22, 1908, in the town of Nepeuskun in Winnebago County, a daughter of the late Edward and Blanche (Woodman) Krueger. She was married to Otto Kussman, a son of Frederick and Pauline (Degner) Kussman, Aug. 22, 1938, in Berlin. He died in 1986.

As a young girl, Kussman dreamed of becoming a home economics teacher, but her father told her that they could not afford to send her to Stout Institute (today’s UW-Stout), where the program was offered.

Kussman went on to graduate from Berlin High School, then Lilac Hill School, a rural, one-room school outside of Berlin. Following graduation at the age of 17, Kussman began teaching at her alma mater to earn enough money to go to college. At that time, school teachers were not required to have a college degree to teach in the rural schools.

“School was always easy for me,” Kussman said. “I was always reading books.”

Condolences may be offered online at www.hollyfuneralhome.com.

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