Julie Saiz, 95, of Hayward, after a life of unconditional love and devotion to her family, passed away peacefully with her daughter, Sandy, by her side at her Water’s Edge apartment in Hayward on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021.

Born Julia Drasler to Slovenian immigrants Anton Drasler and Johanna Kerin in Forest City, Pennsylvania, Julie was the youngest of eight children. She was, in fact, a coal miner’s daughter.

Growing up at the edge of town and surrounded by forest, some of Julie’s fondest childhood memories included summer days with her friends picking blueberries to sell for cash to buy shoes and presentable clothes for school. She also enjoyed nighttime excursions with her father and older brothers to fish for bullheads (a dietary staple) in a nearby pond, and she helped her mother process the many deer harvested by her brothers every fall. At the time, Julie did not realize she was surviving the Great Depression, but the habits she acquired led to a lifetime of hard work, discipline, and frugality that came to characterize the Greatest Generation.

Julie was still in school (all ages in one room) while her favorite older brother, Joseph Drasler, was fighting his way through Western Europe as a corporal in Patton’s Third Army in order to quell a fascist-led plague of racist nationalism. One of only three men in his original platoon of 20 to survive the war, Joe would later become President of the Denver Area Chapter of Survivors of the Battle of the Bulge. He also served nationwide as President of the Slovene National Benefit Society. Julie remained very close to her brother Joe later in life, caring for him in her home until he died of Alzheimer’s disease in 2005 at the age of 94.

When the war was over, Julie married the love of her life, Lawrence Saiz, himself the son of coal-mining Slovenian immigrants from southern Illinois. They were married for 57 years, from 1947 until Larry’s death in 2004 at the age of 88. Larry and Julie were lifelong sweethearts and committed partners who set a high bar for providing and caring for their family.

After marriage, Julie worked for seven years as secretary for the buyer of musical instruments at Montgomery Wards in Chicago, Illinois. She had played the accordion since since her teen years, but her true passion became listening to classical music. Her family could not begin to keep up with her encyclopedic knowledge of classical composers and their compositions, including opera, which often filled the airways in Julie’s home thanks to Wisconsin Public Radio.

Julie became a stay-at-home mom from 1956 until 1961 in order to care full time for her two young children, Sandy and Alan, until they entered grade school. For the next 22 years she worked full time as a biller/typist for two Chicago-area trucking companies, helping to put her children through college and technical school. After she retired in 1983, she and her husband Larry built their dream home on the Saiz family farm where Larry grew up near Sesser, Illinois.

For more than 20 years Julie and Larry enjoyed retirement in their new home on the old farmstead, managing a large garden, a small orchard, and a vineyard. Some of Julie’s best memories revolved around vacation visits from daughter Sandy (Saiz) and son-in-law Dave Neuswanger from Missouri, along with grandchildren Jason and Bryan, who enjoyed grandma’s outstanding cooking when not catching frogs or fishing for catfish in grandpa’s pond.

Julie’s connection to the Hayward area began in the early 1950s when she and Larry would travel from their home in Oak Lawn, Illinois to stay at Clement’s Resort (now private homes adjacent to Johnson’s Resort) on the Chippewa Flowage. Julie recalled many enjoyable float trips down the West Fork of the Chippewa River, guided by Chick Ross, which would end at Clement’s after a day of fishing for smallmouth bass and muskies. Julie’s biggest musky was a 21-pounder taken during a side trip to Round Lake. Little did she know at the time that her son-in-law, Dave Neuswanger, would one day supervise fishery management in the Hayward area for the Wisconsin DNR from 2002 until his retirement in 2014.

The memory of beautiful lakes and crisp northern nights, and the recent relocation of Sandy and Dave to the Hayward area, lured Julie back to the North Woods in 2006. She enjoyed 10 years among friendly neighbors in the Stonewood West Condo Association, just a short drive from the Hayward Area Senior Center where she served on the Board and enjoyed countless afternoons of cards and bingo among new friends. She made frequent visits to Sandy and Dave’s place near Moose Lake where she helped Sandy with their large garden and enjoyed peaceful visits on their Teal River dock.

Julie Saiz was unique in a way that is sorely needed these days. Her family never heard her utter an unkind word toward anyone or anything, ever. She always had a smile and a helping hand for those lucky enough to have known and loved her.

In 2016, at the age of 91, Julie decided to give up driving and move into the comfortable and convenient environs of the Water’s Edge Assisted Living Center in Hayward. With her sunny disposition, she made many new friends there and was treated like royalty by an extraordinarily professional and compassionate staff. Water’s Edge leadership and staff have done an exemplary job of protecting their residents from Covid-19 since the pandemic reached Hayward in spring of 2020. Their competent caring and kindness during Julie’s final weeks and days will not be forgotten, as Julie passed peacefully of natural causes.

Julie was preceded in death by all her siblings, her husband Larry, her son Alan, and numerous cousins. She is survived by her daughter, Sandra (Saiz) Neuswanger, her son-in-law Dave Neuswanger (both of Hayward), and her cherished grandchildren—Jason Neuswanger and his wife Elena of Seattle, Washington, and Bryan Neuswanger of Hayward. There will be a small private service next spring for the immediate family. Julie loved dogs, so the family asks that any memorial donations on her behalf be made to the Northwoods Humane Society.

Last Update: Jan 26, 2021 7:04 am CST