The Granton Rotary Club named Roger and Jean Nitschke as this year’s honored citizens
at the Queen Coronation September 7, 2018. 
The two are longtime residents of Granton, with Roger operating the local grocery store.

By Cheyenne Thomas, TRG

The Granton Rotary recently announced Roger and Jean Nitschke as the honored citizens for the 2018 Granton Fall Festival.  As part of the honor, they will lead the Fall Festival parade on Sept. 9.  The Nitschkes are long time residents of Granton, having been selected by the Granton Rotary for the honor because of their commitment to the community.

“We want to acknowledge community members that make an impact on the community,” the Rotary said in a statement.

Roger was born in Granton and was a graduate of Granton High School.  After graduation, he worked part-time at Spaete’s Store and received a general education at UW-Marshfield.  He later moved up to full-time at Spaete’s and eventually founded Roger’s Grocery Store in 1992, following Spaete’s move away from the grocery business.  He has been in business ever since, having celebrated the store’s 25th anniversary last fall.

Jean, meanwhile, was born and raised in Marshfield among seven children and was a 1978 graduate of Marshfield High School.  For 22 years, Jean was an apartment manager in Marshfield and afterwards started her own housecleaning business that she operated for nine years.

The lives of these two individuals became intertwined through the intervention of a mutual friend, Mike Schmidt.

“We met on a blind date,” said Roger.

“I was going moonlight bowling with my family and friends and I needed a bowling partner,” added Jean.  “Mike suggested his friend Roger.  One year later we went on a group date and two weeks later we had our first date.”  It was then, Jean said, that they knew they would be married.

Roger and Jean celebrated their 16th anniversary on Aug. 24.  They have two children from Jean’s previous marriage: Rachelle Price, who lives in Chicago and Kelly Erickson, who lives in Marshfield.

On top of running Roger’s Grocery, Roger’s time is divvied up among other community organizations.  He has been a member of the Granton Fall Fest committee for 18 years, serving as president all those years; he has served for 46 years as a member of the Granton Volunteer Fire Department, being both secretary and assistant fire chief during that time.  He was also a member on the Granton Village Board for two years, has been the president and secretary of Zion American Lutheran Church in Granton for a number of years and is a member of the Granton FFA Alumni.

“He’s very dedicated to his business and any organizations in which he is involved,” said Jean. “I have to be very understanding of how much time this takes.  If I was very dependent on him, life would be tougher.  I am very proud of my husband.”

Jean has also been busy in the community.  She is a member of the Dieringer Family Band, playing the trumpet at dairy breakfasts and at the Granton Fall Festival before the parade on Sunday.

During the short bits of free time that sometimes come their way, Roger and Jean enjoy family get-togethers and just being together.  They also have several hobbies.  Roger likes to play cards and enjoys being on his church’s dart ball team, while Jean likes to sew and play instruments such as the accordion and guitar in addition to the trumpet.

Both Roger and Jean ae grateful to the community for their support over the years they have lived and worked in Granton.  Without the good neighbors, friends, employees and other citizens of the village, much of what they have accomplished over the years would not have been possible.

“Thank you to the community for all their support all these years, we’re honored and very appreciative,” said Roger.

“All these years that I have lived in Granton, I have met so many nice people,” added Jean.  “It’s just a great community to live in.”