On January 9, 1968, Taunya Lynn Bellinger was born. It was such a joyous occasion. Taunya was a delightful and happy child. Three years and ten months later, she became a big sister. Taunya stepped into the "big sister" role without any hesitation. In August 1974, Taunya became a big sister again. She thought that being the big sister was the greatest role in life. Sisters Taunya, Tamara and Tricia were in the same school for just one year before Taunya went onto Junior High. She joined the Cheerleading Squad and enjoyed performing for crowds. Taunya was very successful in both Junior and Senior High and graduated in 1986.
After graduation, Taunya started working for a local pharmacy and enrolled in a Technical College. Two years later, she graduated with an Associate Degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management. Taunya went on to be the General Manager of five different hotels over the course of eighteen years. She won numerous local, state and national awards. Taunya excelled in the challenges she faced every day, while taking pride in serving the public and maintaining a great staff. With her caring and loving personality, Taunya was respected and loved by all.
In September 1993, Taunya married Sean Krajnik. They began their family with the addition of their first daughter, Bailee Lynn, in October 1994. Their family grew with the birth of their second daughter, Peyton Kayne, in July 1998. Taunya was so happy to be a mom and a perfect one she was. Her daughters were her life.
Taunya enrolled in college once again to improve her managerial skills. All was going along well until 2001 when she noticed a mole on her left shoulder. The mole was removed and discovered to be malignant melanoma with a sentinel node being positive. Taunya went to see a melanoma specialist and was told at the time that there wasn't much help out there for treatment. From 2001-2007, Taunya maintained a normal life until a spot was found on her lung. It was biopsied and found to be melanoma. From there, the cancer had metastasized to her brain causing a lot of problems. Taunya's speech was slurred and her right side was very weak.
Over a period of time, Taunya saw numerous oncologists in different states. She endured chemotherapy, radiation, gamma knife, tomo therapy and brain surgery. Taunya started speech, occupational and physical therapy and began to show improvement. She started back up with college courses with the goal of graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management. During further testing, a pet scan showed the melanoma had metastasized again. This time in the peritoneal cavity and back in her brain. Taunya was such a strong person. Whatever course of treatment was suggested, she was always willing to try. She never complained or gave up. There was always hope in her words. "Maybe the next treatment" she would say. To our devastation, that was not the case.
Taunya passed away on the morning of May 23, 2009 at the age of 41. Her husband, Sean, and their two daughters were at her side. Time can never erase the wonderful memories she left us. Her beautiful smile, infectious laugh, unending compassion for people and love for life and family will be in our hearts forever. Taunya was an answer to our prayers. She is gone from this life with us, but she will never be forgotten.
Joe Fix loved people, loved life and loved to have fun. Joe, the sixth of eight children, was born in 1962 and grew up on the east side of Milwaukee, where years later he would establish Joe's East Coast Car Shop. Joe was a natural business man with a keen sense of how to achieve success. This allowed him to expand his operations in 2010 to include Affordable Auto Salvage also in Milwaukee.
The same passion Joe had for business was carried over to his love of family. Joe was the father of two sons, Frank and Camilo; the proud grandfather of Quinn and loving fiance to Robyn. As a father, Joe lead by example and taught his boys many life lessons which included in order to achieve success much hard work is required.
As hard as he worked, he also loved to have fun. Joe was passionate about snowmobiling, riding his motorcycle, attending Nascar races, working on antique tractors and engines and spending time with friends and family. He also enjoyed long weekends at his properties up north where hunting and competing in local tractor pulls were favorite past times.
Joe was known for his giving spirit and generosity throughout his life. He would go out of his way to help friends, family and even strangers. For the past 14 years, Joe was a dedicated donor to St. Jude's Children's Hospital, where he was happy to help many children with life-threatening illnesses. Joe is remembered for having one of the most positive and giving spirits even when faced with his own battle against melanoma.
In September of 2010 Joe was diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma. After undergoing amputation of his toe and a lymph node resection, Joe was referred to the Mayo clinic in Rochester, MN for further treatment. After a second lymph node resection and several months of radiation therapy he came back to Milwaukee under the care of Dr. Jonathan Treisman. He then underwent treatment in the IL2 program at Aurora St. Luke's. After two courses of IL2 therapy treatments, Joe went on to receive Yervoy. Unfortunately, the tumors continued to grow and Joe lost his courageous battle against melanoma on October 13, 2011.
Joe believed whole heartedly in raising money and awareness for the continued research necessary to find a cure for melanoma. He participated in the Ann's Hope Foundation Race against Melanoma in May of 2011. In the same generous and loving spirit that Joe lived, we will continue to support this cause.
It was often said that Joe was bigger than life itself. He will forever be in the hearts of his family and friends.
Joan Marie Bratz was born and raised in Southern Wisconsin on a dairy farm; she was the fourth child out of ten. She was married to John Thompson for the last 20 years and they had one child, Amy, who recently graduated from Iowa State University. Joan loved life, she loved to travel, she loved her work, and most of all she loved her family.
Joan graduated from college later in life (around 40 years old) while working a full time job, and having a family. She was an extremely hard working woman, always ready to help. Her job with Marriott hotels is what made her happy till the end. She also treated travelling like a job- an enjoyable one, that is. We all laughed about her excel spreadsheets where ever and whenever we traveled with her. Her spreadsheets told us who/what/where/when…..during the whole adventure. Christmas was Joan's favorite holiday and she always traveled to Wisconsin to be with her family. This holiday also included a trip to downtown Chicago – we will especially miss the spreadsheets and her at this time of year.
Joan was known for being a very good friend. She always said that friends were the people that were always there for you and never judged which is why she kept in contact with her long time classmates and people she met while working in the National Parks. When she traveled and any of these long time friends were on the way or only a short distance away, she met up with them for a short visit or an overnight stay. If Joan's travels took her to the water: ocean, lake, river, pool or pond it made her trip all the better. She loved to sit on the beach and watch everything going on around her. As much as Joan loved to sit outside she always had a big hat on.
Traveling and antiquing were Joan's favorite things to do. Her sisters, daughter, niece's and friends loved to do both these activities with her. She loved adventure and she loved it even more if it was a new adventure. Whenever she found a new antique shop she couldn't wait to show us.
Joan was diagnosed with Melanoma in October 2009. She went through a couple of surgeries to remove the spot on the top of her head. But to no avail the cancer spread to her lymph nodes, then metastasized to her brain and then metastasized to her organs. Once the University of Tennessee Cancer Center exhausted all their knowledge Joan headed to MD Anderson in Houston, TX and was accepted into a clinical trial, this did not even slow the cancer down. Joan didn't complain or give up, she always had hope. With-in twenty months Joan lost her fight with melanoma on June 26, 2011 at the age of 54. Joan participated in the Ann's Hope Foundation Walk the last two years with the 'Farmers Fighting Back' team….our never ending search to find a cure for cancer is not over.
Joan is missed every day by her family, friends and co-workers.
