Molly Ann Queram
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STOUGHTON - Molly Ann Queram, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, pie-baker, cross-stitcher, golfer and shopper, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021. She was 91.
Molly was born in Stevens Point, the only child of Ruth Currier and Eddie Suplicki and, later, the adopted daughter of Len Lampert, a civil engineer and surveyor. Molly grew up riding horses with her mother and her childhood best friend, Marge, and remained an equestrian enthusiast throughout her life, collecting figurines and memorabilia and making it a point to watch the Triple Crown each year.
Molly graduated from P.J. Jacobs High School and attended the Wisconsin State University in Stevens Point. There, in geography class, she met Norman Queram (he was "a looker," she said, who inserted himself into her life mostly by "bugging me"). They dated for two months before eloping to Dubuque, Iowa, a strategic choice by Norman, who knew the city didn't impose a waiting period for a marriage license. Molly saved the registration papers from the Dubuque hotel where they stay on that trip?two sheets of paper from the night before the wedding (one for Molly Lampert, one for Norman Queram) and a single page from the night after (for Mr. and Mrs. Norman Queram).
Molly and Norman lived in Stevens Point and had their first son, Christopher, in 1953. Molly remembered being overwhelmed by caring for a newborn, so her mother, Ruth, moved in to help, but after a month told her, gently, "You can do this on your own, now." Five years later she had a second son, Stephen. Most of her time in the boys' early lives was spent caring for them and for Norman, but she worked as well?as a substitute teacher, and then as a sales clerk, first at Holt drug store and later at Hannon's, where she stayed until she and Norman moved to the Upper Peninsula for his job with the Soo Line Railroad.
In Michigan, Norman and Molly lived in a house on a bluff overlooking a golf course. They had their own golf cart and would spend Friday nights on the course with cocktails, where Molly referred to Norman as "the king of the UP." In Escanaba, Molly worked at Maurices, a clothing store where her mantra was "Sell, sell, sell!" Eventually the railroad sent the couple back to Stevens Point where they lived until 2012, when they moved to Stoughton.
Molly was a social butterfly. She was a longtime member of the Daughters of the American Revolution ("Your great-grandfather died at Valley Forge!" she would tell her granddaughters in frequent and ultimately fruitless attempts to get them to join the organization). She was a regular at the library and at local department stores, especially Elder Beerman, where she loved to scout deals on jewelry and clothing. Often she used part of the monthly grocery budget to buy diamonds and gemstones from the Home Shopping Network and QVC, purchases she squirreled away from Norman and recorded, meticulously, on scraps of paper stored in a floral tin in her bedroom. She loved antiques (Delft Blue, Toby mugs and Wedgwood china were among her favorites), cashmere sweaters, name-brand purses, monograms and White Diamonds perfume. She favored Canadian Club whisky and, for a time, boxed wine. She got her hair set weekly, which she referred to as "getting coiffured," but always did her own nails, filed into perfect ovals and painted with pearlescent polish. She was a wonderful cook, known especially for her homemade apple pie and her Milky Way cake. She excelled at embroidery and decorated her and Norman's home with beautiful, cross-stitched portraits, including two large scenes of Scarlett O'Hara from Gone With The Wind and a four-piece series of a single bridge in each season. She loved Frank Sinatra and Broadway musicals, and jumped at the chance to travel, including a memorable trip to Paris with her son, niece and granddaughter. She loved pop culture?she never understood why anyone made a fuss about Ivanka Trump and thought Lady Gaga was good for pop music?and stayed abreast of technology as best she could, using a flip phone to text.
She was funny and smart and genuine and frank. She adored her family, especially Norman's five siblings, and served as a stand-in mother to both her niece Amy and her granddaughter Kate. She loved being a grandma ("Molly's my name, grandma's my game," she used to say), and she loved her sons ("They're good guys"), but Norman was the great love of her life. Even after 60 years of marriage, they held hands on walks and in restaurants, and while they'd bicker, every time Norman left a room she'd turn to whoever was with her and say, with a grin, "Isn't he so cute?" Norman died in 2019 and Molly was never really the same without him, so there is comfort now in the hope that wherever they are, they are together.
Molly is survived by her sons, Christopher (Sandra) and Stephen (Donna); her grandchildren, Kate (Brandon), Matthew (Evelyn) and Laura (Cory); and her great-grandchildren, Annabella, Piper and Harrison. Molly was also extremely close with her niece, Dr. Amy (Paul) Schley. She was preceded in death by her husband, Norman; her mother and birth father, Ruth Currier and Eddie Suplicki, and her adopted father, Len Lampert.
The family would like to express its appreciation to the residential team at Meadowmere Assisted Living for their kindness and support of Molly the past two years and to the staff at Agrace for their compassionate care during Molly's final days. Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.
Gunderson Stoughton
Funeral & Cremation Care
1358 Highway 51
(608) 873-4590