Ann Kay Mikutis-Niesen

Service Details

Visitation will be held Monday, February 12th, from 3:00-6:00pm in the Great Lakes Church and Tuesday starting at 9:30am with a Celebration of Life Service at 11:30am at Great Lakes Church; 7600 75th Street, Suite 220, Kenosha, WI, 53142. To view Ann’s service via live-stream, please use the following link http://www.greatlakeschurch.com/funeral

Ann Kay (Miga) Mikutis-Niesen, 80 years old, peacefully made her way to heaven on January 29, 2024, surrounded by her beloved husband, children, step children and grandchildren whom she deeply loved.

A lifelong resident of Kenosha, she was born on July 9, 1943, the daughter of the late Richard and Laverne (Weinholz) Miga.   Ann Kay lived a good fruitful life and will always be remembered as someone who constantly encouraged and led by example.  She was a 1961 graduate of Mary D. Bradford High School and served at various times helping to arrange class reunions.   In 1987 she graduated with an Associates Degree in Accounting from Gateway Technical College while also working there full time.

Ann Kay met the love of her life at the age of 13, James V. Mikutis.  He became her childhood sweetheart and on November 10, 1962 they married in a candlelight ceremony at Friedens Lutheran Church.  They honeymooned in New York City and celebrated a wonderful 37 years of marriage before his death on November 2, 1999. She was always the love of his life.

In the fall of 2000 she met another wonderful man, Thomas Niesen, through a blind date. They both worked at Gateway Technical College and found they had many things in common.  On a beautiful summer day, June 9, 2001, they were married at Holy Nativity Lutheran Church in Kenosha, WI.They had a wonderful honeymoon in Maine and always wanted to return.

Ann Kay started her first secretarial job at Great Lakes Naval Base in June of 1961. She quit that job because she was going to become a full time mother in August of 1963. Throughout her lifetime she was employed at Northwestern Drapery Company, First Presbyterian Church, C.J.W. Distributors, and retired from Gateway Technical College on April 30, 2002.  After she retired she worked part time at Sew & Save in Racine and loved every minute spent taking care of the customers.

 

Ann believed in staying active and was always keeping herself busy during her 80 plus years. As a young mother,  she was highly involved in her church and children’s schools. She served as Sunday school teacher, Sunday School Superintendent, and held many offices in the women’s circles of Holy Nativity Church. She also held the offices of Treasurer, Secretary, and President of Jefferson School P.T.A. and she and her husband chaperoned many of their children’s school activities.  She also enjoyed participating in her many bowling leagues and boasted at her high game of 274.  As the years went on she learned to play bridge and golf which became the real joys in her life.  For many years she was a member of the Senior Center Duplicate and A.L.L. Bridge clubs, as well as three Round Robin groups, two other Duplicate groups, two couples groups and in a group that she helped form in 1967.   Ann loved golfing and was a member of the Muni Wednesday morning and the Thursday Traveling Birdies Golf Leagues for over thirteen years. She also loved to garden, scrapbook with her family, quilt with her friends, and camp with her husband and family.

She and Tom had a permanent camp site at Plymouth Rock, Wisconsin for over 17 years.  Most of her summer months were spent there along with her children and grandchildren.  Her favorite time was golfing with her husband, son, son-in-laws and brother–in-law at the campgrounds. This was quite a challenge being the only woman with three guys but she loved every minute of it.  In later years her daughter and daughter-in-law started to golf and she was glad.

Ann was a devoted and supportive grandma and great-grandmother! She cheered on her grandkids in t-ball, softball, lego robotics, band and the many theatrical performances.  She beamed with pride at the graduations, weddings and births of her great-grandchildren. She loved her grandchildren unconditionally and they all knew it.

Above all Ann loved her Lord and master. She loved her church and bible study group (BFS) which she faithfully attended every Monday evening. The best part of her day was waking up and devoting one hour or more to reading her Bible. Ann quickly became an active member once she joined Great Lakes Church.  She and Tom enjoyed their couples group, she became the “grandma” for Royal Kids Camp and she and Tom loved taking care of the babies in the nursery on Sundays. She even reaffirmed her faith through water baptism in 2019. Her faith was extremely strong and she went to sleep every night leaving all her worries in God’s hands. She died knowing that eternity would be spent in heaven, that heaven was real and looking forward to joining all that went before her and knowing that she would be waiting to meet those who would be coming after her. 

Ann is survived by many wonderful family members and friends.  Left to celebrate her life are her loving husband, Tom; her children Kirsten McCollum, Kurt (Jennifer) Mikutis, Kerrie (Brett) Pasternak; step-children, Tommy (Tanya) Niesen, Jason Niesen and former son-in-law, Larry McCollum.   Her loving grandchildren; Cameron (Courtney) Mikutis,  Madison McCollum and Tyler Van Nuland, Waverly McCollum, and Jasper, Tillie and Kaylie Pasternak and Kelsey (Matthew) Steinmetz and great-grandchildren; Carter Mikutis, and Kaiden and Lennon Steinmetz.  She is also survived by her dear friends, Phyllis Martino, Dorene Santarelli, and Carol Perona and her cousins Cathy Toms and Linda Amico.

Ann was always willing to talk, glad to see you, had a twinkle in her eye and a smile on her face.  She will be missed by all who knew her, especially her family.

She was preceded in death by her first husband, James V. Mikutis, her parents; Richard and Laverne Miga, her in-laws; Hazel & Bill Mikutis and Grandma Jo Niesen,  her grandson; Bailey Leander James McCollum and step-son, David Niesen. 

Visitation will be held Monday February 12 from 3:00-6:00pm and Tuesday starting at 9:30am with a Celebration of Life Service at 11:30am at Great Lakes Church; 7600 75th Street, Suite 220, Kenosha, WI, 53142. The service will be live-streamed, details to follow. 

(Ann Kay wrote the majority of her own obituary, we hope you enjoyed reading it.)