Obituary: Eleanor Frances (Hugins) Asmuth

BLACK EARTH -Eleanor Hugins Asmuth of Black Earth, Wis. passed away
peacefully Monday, April 1, 2019 at Sauk Prairie Hospital after a short
illness. She was 96.

Eleanor Asmuth was born on Jan. 3, 1923, in Littleton, Colo. She was the
second child of Charles Benjamin Hugins and Nora Hale Hugins. She was
a World War II Veteran of the United States Navy. Eleanor attended
Littleton High School. Upon graduation, she attended Denver University
and also a began what was to become a life-long career in teaching taking
a position as a first-and-second grade teacher in a Littleton area
elementary school. After attending Denver University for two years Eleanor
joined the United States Navy in which she served in the WAVES (Women
Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) for the duration of World War
II. While in the navy, she operated Link Trainers and taught celestial
navigation to navy pilots in training. At the conclusion of the war, Eleanor
completed her B.S. Degree in Chemistry at Denver University. She then
enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison
where she began studies in chemistry. She later switched to mathematics
and earned a Master of Science Degree in 1949.

In 1947, at a square dance in the Great Hall of the Wisconsin Memorial
Union, she met for the first time John Asmuth, a graduate student in
Electrical Engineering. On Aug. 27, 1948, John and Eleanor were united in
a marriage of nearly 70 wonderful years.

In 1962, when Eleanor and John’s children were old enough to attend
school, Eleanor resumed her teaching career to take a position of Math and
Chemistry Teacher at Black Earth High School. She continued in that
position at Wisconsin Heights High School when the Black Earth and
Mazomanie Schools consolidated to form the Wisconsin Heights School
District. About that time, she became the Chairman of the Mathematics
Department, a position she held until her retirement. In addition to math
and chemistry, Eleanor was always very interested in computer science.
She taught computer programming at the high school beginning in 1970,
making Wisconsin Heights High School the very first high school in the
area to offer computer programming.

In 1986, Eleanor and John began an energetic three decades of retirement
together. They were active in square dancing, cross-country skiing,
bicycling, and international travel. Their biggest joy was seeing their family
grow in numbers with each new wedding and birth.

Eleanor was preceded in death by her husband, John Asmuth; her brother,
George B. Hugins; her sons, Richard and Robert; and a newborn daughter.
Eleanor is survived by her son, Charles Asmuth and wife Jane; daughter-inlaw,
Claudia (wife of Richard); grandchildren, John Asmuth and wife
Stephanie, Peter Asmuth, Mark Asmuth and Laura Asmuth and husband
Mark Hwang; and two great-grandsons, Trent Jay Asmuth and Gavin
Ludwig Asmuth.

Interment in Oak Hill Cemetery in Black Earth and a memorial were held
on Sunday, May 26, 2019.