Dannette Marie Pirkl

Dannette Marie Pirkl was born on New Years Day, 1937, in Butte Montana to Daniel and Florence (Clancy) Schneller. As a child, she was a competitive speed skater and best pal to her golden retriever, Fella. Favorite childhood memories included going to the local amusement park, Columbia Gardens, and looking at the mountains from the back porch of the family home.

After graduating from High School, having never been further east than Yellow Stone Park, Dannette boarded a train bound for Rochester, Minnesota, where she enrolled as a nursing student at St. Mary’s Hospital (now Mayo Clinic). She graduated with her RN degree in 1957. After working for a time as a nurse in Chicago, she met John Pirkl on a blind date.

They married in1959. They moved to Houghton-Hancock, Michigan where John enrolled as an engineering student at Michigan Technological University and Dannette worked as a nurse. Upon his graduation, John was offered a job at Johnson’s Wax in Racine. They bought an old farmhouse in Franksville on a beautiful piece of land where they raised five children.

Dannette befriended every person she ever met. She was generous with her time, her kindness, her money, and her hugs. She was a smart redheaded Irish Democrat who loved to laugh, sing, dance, and play cards. She loved babies and children and they loved her back. She created complicated scavenger hunts, wrote a million cards and letters, made quilts for her grandchildren and sent homemade treats in the mail. The U.S. Postal Service will not survive without her. She threw great dinner parties, birthday parties and family Christmas celebrations. She did not live casually; she lived with purpose and gusto.

The glow of her presence is now, and always will be, missed so much and by so many. Rest in peace, Danny.

Dannette is survived by her five children Denise Feider (Henry), Kathleen Pirkl Tague (Steve), John Pirkl (Julie), Michael Pirkl (Jane), Brian Pirkl (Keiko), twelve grandchildren and five great grandchildren. She is also survived by two brothers, Michael Schneller and Lewis Schneller. Her husband, John F. Pirkl preceded her in death in 2025.

There will be a private family celebration of life for Dannette in the fall.