Cletus Windschitl, 88, of Carroll died peacefully at home on Saturday, October 24, 2020.
A private family visitation followed by a private family Mass of the Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. John Paul II Parish – Holy Spirit Church in Carroll on Friday, October 30, 2020. The Celebrant will be Fr. Andrew Windschitl (grandson). Music will be arranged through Rebecca Windschitl (daughter-in-law). Casket Bearers will be Cletus’ grandchildren. Burial will be in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Carroll.
Memorials may be directed to Cletus Windschitl Family, c/o Sharp Funeral Home, 226 W. 8th St., Carroll, Iowa 51401.
Funeral arrangements are under the guidance of the Sharp Funeral Home in Carroll, and online condolences may be left for Cletus’ family at www.sharpfuneral.com.
Clete will be greatly missed by numerous family members, friends, neighbors, former colleagues and past students from Kuemper High School and members of the St. John Paul II Parish – Holy Spirit Church.
Clete was born March 28, 1932, on a farm in Mulligan Township of Brown County, Minnesota, the son of Carl and Leonora (Groebner) Windschitl. Clete graduated from Comfrey High School in 1950. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Science Education from St. John’s University of Collegeville, Minnesota in 1954. He received his Master of Education degree from Wisconsin State University of Superior in 1962. He continued with graduate work at Iowa State University from 1963 to 1970.
On July 23, 1955, Clete married Valerie Uldrich in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Windschitl family began shortly afterward. From 1955 to 1957, Clete served in the United States Army. He trained at Fort Carson, Colorado, and was stationed in the Adjutant General Corps at the Headquarters for US Armed Forces Command near Tokyo, Japan. Valerie joined Clete in Japan, which is where their first child was born.
After the Army, Clete transitioned into a long and distinguished career in education, starting at Cathedral High School in Superior, Wisconsin in 1958 as a teacher of American and World History and coach in summertime basketball and baseball. In 1962, he began working at Kuemper Catholic High School in Carroll, Iowa as a counselor and teacher, and continued to serve there as a counselor, guidance director, and administrator until 1999. After 1999, he served as a consultant at Kuemper for two years before officially retiring. He was active in the Iowa School Counselors Association, American Personnel and Guidance Association, National Association of Secondary School Principals Association, Iowa Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, and National Catholic Education Association.
Clete was recognized by receiving a City of Carroll Humanitarian Service Award, Diocese of Sioux City Young Educator’s Award, Outstanding Educator Award for the City of Carroll, Governor’s 1991 Volunteer Award for work in alcohol and drug treatment and prevention programs, and was nominated for the National Catholic Education Association Award for Outstanding Work in Catholic Schools. He was a member of the Carroll United Way Board of Directors, and member and president of the Area XII Alcohol and Drug Treatment Unit. He also found time to coach Little League Baseball and Football (as a boy he loved baseball and played for both high school teams and county teams).
During his “retirement” years, Clete continued to use his administrative skills by serving as the Director of Ministries for Holy Spirit Parish of Carroll from 2000 to 2017. He served as a member of the parish board of directors for Holy Spirit, serving as director of training and scheduling of the lay ministers for the parish. He was chair of the building committee for the Bishop Greteman Center, chair of the Diocese of Sioux City Pastoral Council, and chair of Holy Spirit Parish Liturgy Committee. With Valerie, he was a member of the Cursillo Movement, Marriage Encounter, Pre-Cana, and the Peace and Justice Committee.
For many years, Clete was an occasional golfer at the Muni, usually playing near the crack of dawn. His serious hobby, however, was maintaining a thriving garden in the back yard. This garden included raspberries, tomatoes, peas, garlic, asparagus, and many other vegetables. He was known for training his butternut squash vines to climb up the surrounding honeysuckle bushes where his harvests were high in the sky! He was a skilled furniture refinisher, with a house of beautifully redone family heirlooms.
Clete would take his small children and later his grandchildren to the parks on warm sunny days. The older children helped to make sure young ones did not fall into the creek in the park. The grandchildren have great fondness and respect for their Grandpa. A grandchild recently told him, “The ‘kids table’ on holidays is never truly complete without a seat for you, Grandpa. Even when we were very young, you made all of us little kids feel listened to, respected, and understood. If everyone in the world had even an ounce of your patience, wisdom, kindness, and levity, the world would be a much better place.” Another grandchild said, “Whenever I think of what it means to live a good life, in the moral sense, and what sort of man I want to be one day, you always come first to mind.” Grandpa (Clete) took copious notes in a little notebook kept in his shirt pocket, and told the grandkids his notebook was a “poor man’s iPod!” Grandpa was a big hit at Christmas time with adults and children alike, churning out rum balls, peanut brittle, and spritz cookies.
Cletus is survived by his wife, Valerie Windschitl of Carroll, his children and partners: Dr. Mark (Dr. Pam Joseph) Windschitl, Seattle, Washington; Dawn Windschitl (married to son John), Des Moines, Iowa; Stephen (Rebecca) Windschitl, Arcadia, Iowa; Martha (Mark) Royer, Ames, Iowa; Chris (Jody) Windschitl, Lake City, Iowa; Gretchen (Roy) Janssen, Ames, Iowa; Dr. Paul (Tricia) Windschitl, Iowa City, Iowa. Clete and Val also have twelve grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Clete is survived by his brothers and sister Dr. Harold (Shirley) Windschitl, Maggie Manion, and Paul Bartl (Gayle) Windschitl. He was preceded in death by his parents Carl and Leonora Windschitl, son John Gregory Windschitl, and brother-in-law Dr. Jim Manion.
Cletus was a good and gentle man, and he will remain loved, treasured, and remembered by all who knew him.
