Madelyn Kai
WAKEFIELD — Madelyn Kai, 99, died May 6, 2020, at the Wakefield Health Care Center, Wakefield.
Services will be held at a later date.
Mary Madelyn Steinhoff Kai was born Jan. 5, 1921, in the home of her aunt in Bancroft. She was baptized in Holy Cross Catholic Church, Bancroft, by Father Michael Quin. Madelyn’s early years were spent in St. Helena and Wynot. The family moved to Bancroft in 1925, which became her home until her marriage. At age four, Mary Madelyn started school in Bancroft. She soon dropped the name, Mary, and used her preferred middle name “Madelyn.” She graduated from high school in Bancroft in 1938, then took the Normal Teaching Course which, along with passing 17 state tests, made it possible to obtain a third grade elementary certificate. That certificate allowed her to teach in a rural school at the age of 17. This during the depression era when jobs were hard to come by. Madelyn walked to her first rural school five miles from home. She was paid $45 per month. She spent her summers attending Wayne State College and during World War ll, working at the Bomb Loading Plant in Mead. A vivid memory of hers was the day in May 1945 when the war in Europe ended. The screeching noise of the bomb plant became quiet that day, never to be heard again. She then finished her teaching career in Madison, and awaited her fiancé’s return from his four years overseas. Clarke Kai finally came home Dec. 1, 1945. He and Madelyn were married on a cold snowy day, Dec. 27, 1945, at Holy Cross Catholic Church. After the teaching year ended, the two began their lives together on the Kai farm west of Pender.
Madelyn’s dedication was to her church, St. Mary’s, Wayne, and raising her sons, Terry, Kevin, Brian and Shawn, as well as the grandchildren as they came along.
Preceding Madelyn in death are her parents, Harry and Minnie (Hansen) Steinhoff; brother, Maurice; husband, Clarke; daughter-in-law, Ann (Terry); sister and husband, Elaine and Ed Zach; great-granddaughter, Lauryn Trautman; and brother-in-law, Marvin Baker.
Survivors include sons, Terry, Kevin (Bonnie), Brian, Shawn (Kim); sister, Norene Baker; 17 grandchildren and 32 great-grandchildren.