After living and working in Wausau for the first 5 years of marriage we moved to a farm in Marathon WI, located next to the original Hanke family farm. Our children are the 6th generation to live within one mile of the original farm, after our ancestors immigrated from Pommeria in 1858.

Elaine has worked as a nurse until 70 years of age working at the Marathon Doctors office along with the Wausau’s Aspirus hospital.

Ronald served in army reserves, worked at American Can before moving onto a dairy farm in Marathon. Initially Ronald worked at American Can along with dairy farming prior to farming full time. Today Ron and Elaine still live on the same dairy farm they moved to in 1966, although they no longer milk cows. They now rent the crop land to a related farmer.

Marriage Advice: Don’t go to bed mad. Work things out before things can get out of hand. You need to be compatible and willing to grow old together, while working through the hard times. A strong Christian up bringing helps with forming those family values.