Chatfield Paul Kolar

Chatfield Paul Kolar (Chet, Bud), age 99, died on Sunday, August 8, 2021. He was born September 16, 1921, at home in Waushara County near Berlin, WI. It is difficult to do justice to him in this summary of his long, full life.

Chatfield enjoyed sharing stories of his early years and of adventures with his cousin Billy Ziege. For example, the two boys delighted in startling pedestrians as they paraded leashed pet rats through Berlin. Chatfield was in early grade school when his family moved to a home along the Milwaukee River in West Bend, WI. Chatfield half jokingly attributed his general good health and longevity in part to the "inoculations" he believed he received from swimming in the Milwaukee River before the installation of wastewater treatment. In 1939 Chatfield graduated from West Bend HS. He began college at UW Madison, but soon transferred to the Wisconsin Mining School (now UW Platteville).

He worked for the US Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS), but was drafted to serve in WWII. He entered the US Army on January 28, 1943, served with the 71st Infantry Division, and was honorably discharged on April 9, 1946 at the rank of Technical Sergeant/4. He was awarded Battle Stars for the Rhineland and Central Europe Campaigns and, as a member of the 608th Field Artillery Battalion, received the Meritorious Unit Award. He was profoundly affected at the end of the war by the horrors he witnessed at Gunskirchen Lager concentration camp and by the desperation of Cossack prisoners of war begging not to be returned to Russia.

Following discharge from the US Army, Chatfield returned to the USC&GS. While home on leave before his next assignment from USC&GS, he visited a friend at the State Highway Commission in Green Bay. The supervisor there encouraged him to take the Wisconsin civil service exam and to apply for a position in Green Bay. One thing lead to another and he worked from 1947 until retirement in 1983 in what is now the Northeast Region of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. The span of his career activities included design, construction, survey, real estate acquisition, and coordinating utilities for construction. He was a licensed Professional Engineer, a Professional Land Surveyor, and a member of the Wisconsin Society of Land Surveyors.

He met his beloved Mary Jane Anderson in Sturgeon Bay and they married in June of 1949. Together they raised their four children in the home he built in 1951. It remained his home throughout the rest of his life. He enjoyed gardening and over the years plied his green thumb to growing apples, pears, peaches, plums, grapes, raspberries and other fruits and vegetables.

Chatfield had many hobbies and interests. He learned to love golf as a boy when he caddied at the West Bend Country Club. He was a founding member of Northbrook Golf Course near Luxemburg, WI and enjoyed many years golfing there. His interest in fishing and duck hunting lead to many tasty meals of fish and wild duck harvested from Clark Lake in Door County and the waters of Green Bay. The Kolar home was filled with music. He not only encouraged his children to develop their musical talents, but also led by example singing baritone with barbershop choruses and quartets in Green Bay and Fort Myers. Early in retirement he resumed his interest in the harmonica and played with community harmonica bands in Wisconsin and Florida. Up until his mid-90's he met regularly with groups for retired surveyors and Department of Transportation retirees.

He helped his father find and develop the cottage on Clark Lake where together the extended Kolar family spent countless hours in fun, work, and adventures. On a family trip to Florida in 1957 he discovered Ft. Myers Beach. He returned there many times to vacation with his wife and children. After introducing his parents and his sisters' families to the area, they all spent many vacations and years of retirement as "snowbirds" there.

Chatfield is preceded in death by his wife, Mary Jane (Anderson) Kolar; parents, John J. and Elsa (Glander) Kolar; sisters June Arens and Audrey Schumacher; brothers-in-law Lambert Arens, Donald Schumacher, Victor F. Anderson II, Gary Wozadlo; sister-in-law Elizabeth (Victor II) Anderson; daughter-in-law Sandra (John) Kolar; mother-in-law and father-in-law, Ann and Victor F. Anderson I; and nephew Victor F. Anderson III.

He is survived by four children; Elizabeth (Daniel) Scudder of Mellen, WI, John Kolar and Thomas Kolar of Green Bay, WI, and Jean (Albert) Vest of Columbus, OH; five grandchildren, Christina (Matthew) Kersten of West DePere, WI, Lauran (Kerry) Kuplic of Dodge City, KS, Adam (Amanda) Scudder of Mahtomedi, MN, Kendra (Eric) Nordgren of Duluth, MN, and Austen (Emma) Scudder of Milwaukee, WI; ten great-grandchildren, Madelyn, John, Paul, and Thomas Kersten, Freyja Kuplic, Amelia Johnson, Ida and Aldo Nordgren, and Melanie and Julia Scudder. He is also survived by his sister-in-law Patricia Anderson of Los Gatos CA, six nephews, and three nieces. Two more great-grandchildren are expected to arrive before the close of 2021.

Chatfield is laid to rest beside his wife and parents at Knollwood Cemetery in Manitowoc County, WI. The family will hold a celebration of life at a later date when circumstances are conducive for traveling and gathering.

Memorials to honor Chatfield may be directed to the UW Platteville Engineering, Mathematics, and Science Development Fund.