Wendy Jo Fjelstad

COTTAGE GROVE - Wendy Jo Hahlen Fjelstad, age 76, passed away on a beautiful and serene Sunday morning, September 7, 2025, at home in Cottage Grove. With husband John at her side, she lived the final years of life on her terms through all the darkness that cancer spreads. She was born on December 2, 1948, at St. Clare Hospital in Monroe, Wis., to Robert Jacob and Evelyn Lucille (Johns) Hahlen.

Wendy is survived by her husband of 29 years, John; and sisters, Paula Hahlen Caraway, Prairie du Sac, and Heidi Hahlen Baker and husband, Rick, Brodhead. She is also survived by sisters-in- law, Mary Fjelstad, Madison, and Earlene Fjelstad, Stoughton; brother-in-law, Tom Fjelstad, Mount Horeb; one niece, Chloe Alexis Hahlen Baker, Brodhead, and four nephews, Lance Fjelstad, Edgerton, Simeon Caraway, Arena, Justin (Judd) Caraway, Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Drew Hahlen Baker, Madison; one great-grandniece, Shane Jones Caraway, Avoca/Arena, and one great-grandnephew, Tayt Caraway, Richland Center. She was preceded in death by her parents and brother-in-law, Tor Caraway, Arena.

After graduating from Monroe High School in June of 1966, Wendy attended the Patricia Steven Career College in Milwaukee and graduated in June of 1967 from the Retail Fashion Merchandizing Program. The following summer, she attended the Language Institute Spanish Summer School in Durango, Mexico. She and three other American girls lived with a family with five daughters. Upon her return, she lived at home and worked at Baumgartner’s Cheese Store, primarily at the cheese counter. Wendy returned to Guadalajara, Mexico in January of 1968 for six months and was the volunteer music teacher at a church-affiliated elementary school when she was not attending the Instituto Cultural for Spanish Language Classes. In September of 1969, she was accepted at UW-Milwaukee as a dance major and Spanish minor.  With her love of Mexico, she returned in January 1971 and traveled around for nine months, from Ensenada to Mazatlán to Guadalajara to Lake Chala to Oaxaca and finally made a brief trip to Guatemala before turning to the U.S. She lived with high school classmates in Garden Grove, Calif., for a couple of months, then flew to the island of Hawaii and lived on the Kona side, having joined a Jesus group that called themselves Maranatha. Wendy returned to Wisconsin with live flower leis in October 1972 when Evelyn’s mother’s health started to decline.

In February of 1973, Evelyn and Wendy attended a program at St. John’s Church of Christ in Monroe sponsored by the Ecumenical Institute. Wendy continued to attend their longer academic program of Religious and Liberal Studies. It was at this time that she decided to attend nursing school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with a focus on Primary Care which included Public Health. She continued with Dance and Spanish minors and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing December 1978.

After graduation, Wendy worked at a nursing home for 18 months, then in 1981, she worked at St. Mary’s Hospital in the general medical/cardiac stepdown for four years. With Wendy’s interest in public health, she joined the Columbia County Public Health Department in 1985, then joined the City of Madison Public Health in 1988, which was consolidated into the Dane County Public Health Department, with a focus on Well Child, TB Clinic, STI, HIV, Refugee and Immunization Clinics. She retired in 2011 after 32 years as a registered nurse.

Wendy and John met through ballroom dancing classes in 1994 and would see each other in the mornings at the east side Princeton Club as they headed to work. After two years, they were married on June 2, 1996, highlighted by a choreographed wedding dance at the UW-Madison Memorial Union.

Wendy maintained a healthy lifestyle and hobbies: gardening, walking, swimming and for the past 10 years or so, devoted her time and travels in the search of the genealogical history of the Hahlen and Johns families, dating as far back as the Revolutionary War. She was a proud member of the Green County Daughters of the American Revolution, following in the steps of her maternal grandmother and great-grandmother. She was an active member of the Dane County Republican Party and converted to and was baptized in the Catholic Church in 2010.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at ST. PATRICK CATHOLIC CHURCH, 434 N. Main St., Cottage Grove, at 11 a.m. on Saturday, September 13, 2025. Visitation will take place at the church from 10 a.m. until the time of the Mass on Saturday. After Mass, everyone is invited to join family and friends in the lower level of St. Patrick’s for a light luncheon and time to reminisce with friends and family. Final place of rest will be at the Michael Cemetery, N2173 Allen Rd., Browntown, Wis.

Thank you to Gunderson East staff and the Agrace HospiceCare RN, Matthew Reel, and staff for their support, guidance and thoughtful care during Wendy’s last weeks. Thank you also to Dr. Lorna Belsky, UW Health-Junction Road Medical Center, and her staff for the many years of health care. Thank you to the University of Wisconsin Breast Cancer Clinic staff for the nine years of experience and counseling. Finally, a heartfelt thank you to all of Wendy’s friends who were there for her, giving her strength and encouragement in the face of the inevitable. She treasured all the well wishes and prayers. We will miss her but know that she will be looking for all the shirt-tail cousins that preceded her in death.

Donations in Wendy’s name may be sent to: Colonel Benjamin Harrison Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, c/o Carol Ingold, W4910 Middle Juda Rd., Monroe, WI 53566-9436; Green County Historical Society, P.O. Box 804, Monroe, WI 53566-0804; Stella Maris Parish, 5306 Main St., McFarland, WI 53558; or the charity of your choice.        

Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.

Gunderson East

Funeral & Cremation Care
5203 Monona Drive
(608) 221-5420