Obituary: Phillip G. Prange

Phillip G. Prange, age 81 of Sturgeon Bay, WI, passed away on November 27, 2015.

OK, so I kicked the bucket.  But, hey, no regrets.  I lived a long and happy life with a very wonderful wife, three children, their spouses and eight grandchildren.  Here are the particulars:

I was born in 1934 in Sheboygan, WI, son of Milford and Ella (Juerrss) Prange, and moved to Sturgeon Bay when I was a year old.  I graduated from Sturgeon Bay High School in 1953, and then from Lawrence University in 1957.  I attended the Navy Officer Candidate School, graduated as Lieutenant JG and served as a Top Security Courier, based in Kenitra, Morocco until 1959. My wife, Nancy, and I formed our own company, Prange-Jones & Associates, Inc., where we represented a variety of baby furniture, equipment and accessories manufacturers, selling  to Sears, Target, Kohl’s, Spiegel’s and a large number of independent retailers located in the Midwest.  In 2007, we moved back to Sturgeon Bay, where we had been spending many vacations with family and friends over the 34years we were married.

I met Nancy while skiing at Indianhead Ski Resort, Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and we later honeymooned in Zermatt, Switzerland, We frequently enjoyed traveling to the Rocky Mountains and numerous ski resorts throughout Europe, then wintering 4 years in Breckenridge, CO, where I worked as a ski instructor.   My free-time passion always involved downhill skiing, both racing and teaching, and happily placed 4th in the nation in NASTAR Amateur Racing.  I also was lucky to be on the first sports team that Sturgeon Bay High School sent to State competition (and we won!).

My other passion was volunteering. I truly enjoyed working as a docent at the Door County Maritime Museum, driving for American Red Cross, Door-Tran and Meals on Wheels.

I am survived by my wife, Nancy, three children, Phil (Alison ) Prange of Madison, WI, David (Kate) Prange of Chicago, IL, Catherine (Nick) Hurtgen of Winnetka, IL,  eight grandchildren, Nicholas, Mary and Abigail Hurtgen, Ellen, Connor, Amelia, Maeve and Alexandra Prange, brother John (Judy) Prange of Wausau, WI, sister-in-law Julie (Bill) Brandy of Akron, OH, many nieces and nephews, and Goddaughter Meredith (Clay) Alexander of Manhattan, KS.  And I would like to thank all my friends for their companionship throughout my adult life.  I truly enjoyed each person’s friendship, and felt blessed by their daily enrichment to my life.

A celebration of my life will be held at The Lodge at Leathem Smith in Sturgeon Bay on Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 2:30 pm.   Ashes will be privately interred.

Friends may call on Thursday after 1:00 p.m. at The Lodge at Leathem Smith.

Memorial Gifts may be donated to the Jacksonport United Methodist Church c/o the Sturgeon Bay United Methodist Church at 836 Michigan Street, Sturgeon Bay, WI, 54235 or Winnetka Covenant Church, Winnetka, IL.

Huehns Funeral Home is assisting my family with arrangements.

Condolences and guestbook signing may be left at www.huehnsfuneralhome.com

In closing, I would like to leave you with a poem I wrote while in Kenitra, Morocco:

Man is a master

 of what he sees only

 that after                    

is not for his eyes.

A sigh, a cry,

 a mother’s breast

To mold, to remember …

All lost in a jest

No reason for,

 no wisdom beyond,

Faith in our beliefs,

Our Salvation’s bond.

God Bless You All.

Phil