Roger Drechsel died peacefully of heart failure in hospice care at the Milwaukee VA Hospital on March 29, 2020. Born April 16, 1920, he died just 18 days shy of his 100th birthday. He was with family members during his last hours.
Roger was born in LaCrosse, Wisconsin and adopted at the age of two by Andrew and Eleanor Drechsel. Roger’s birth parents were Nellie Boyle and Carl John Kress of Lancaster, Wisconsin.
Roger is a veteran of World War II. Prior to his wartime service, he had been part of a horse-mounted Cavalry unit in Watertown, Wis. He enlisted in 1943 and was in the 94th Infantry Division. He landed in Normandy in 1944. His unit was responsible for building and rebuilding bridges and roads as part of war operations in France and Germany. His unit took part in the Battle of the Bulge. He was awarded the Bronze Star for bravery when he volunteered to help clear landmines.
Roger was an auto mechanic and met his beloved wife of 49 years, Ruth Januchowski, while working at Yellow Truck Lines in Milwaukee. The couple had two daughters, Michele (Landy Sparr) and Patricia (Raymond Look). The family lived in Saint Francis for more than forty years. Ruth died in 1997. Roger is survived by his two daughters, his grandchildren Brian (Renee), Sarah (Todd Foster) and the late Amy Look, and Nina (Spencer Morris), Nick and Cameron (Nuria) Sparr and great grandchildren Zander and Ava Look and Ona Codina Sparr.
Roger owned his own business, Roger’s Enco, on Chicago Avenue in South Milwaukee for many years. He loved cars and working on cars and he was an enthusiastic sponsor of a local stock car that ran at Hales Corners Speedway. He and Ruth, along with family and racing friends, attended many autoracing events locally and around the country.
After his wife’s death, Roger formed an enduring friendship with Dolores Tolkacz of South Milwaukee. Dolores, a resident of Howard Village in Saint Francis, survives him.