James Patrick Kane

James Patrick Kane, age 93, of Friendship, Wisconsin died Friday, April 20, 2007 at the Villa Pines Living Center in Friendship, Wisconsin.

Mass of Christian Burial will be 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 at the St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Friendship, Wisconsin.　 Father James P. McNamee will officiate.　 Interment will be at the Quincy Cemetery, Town of Quincy, Wisconsin.　

Friends may call at the church on Tuesday from 9 to the time of Mass on Tuesday.　

James Patrick Kane was born on July 30th, 1913 in Chicago, IL. When he was about a year old, his family moved to Cicero. He attended the Mary Queen of Heaven church and grammar school. He had said that his grandmother McCarthy was instrumental in getting this parish and school started, so of course, that was where he attended.

"From the time my nose could reach the keys on the piano, my father had me memorize songs. I couldnt read yet, so he would recite the words and I would repeat them. Then he would play the notes and I had to memorize them. Soon I was able to sing a number of old Irish songs by myself." – JPK

He began singing at the Cathedral in downtown Chicago when he was six. When the nuns found out he could sing, they had him up on the stage all of the time. At about 10 years old he became an alter boy, and by the time he was 11, he was singing at the daily mass at 6:30 am. He graduated from St. Mels High School in Chicago around 1931.

As those who loved him know, he continued to move people with his Irish tenor at many weddings, family gatherings and funerals throughout his life. To us he was famous for the Tu-Ra-Lu-Ra Irish Lulla-bye and the Ave Maria, which he sang at all our weddings. He was a member in the church choir at St. Joesephs Catholic church, in Friendship almost until his death.

As he got older he enjoyed athletic activities and played basketball, tennis, softball and even boxed for a year on a company team. In his later years Grandma & Grandpa were both avid golfers.

Before he met "Jeanie", James worked at a multitude of jobs, including doing his own mechanical work on his vehicles. As a boy he would sort pipe-fittings for his father and go out with him on jobs for his plumbing and heating business. After high school he worked as a Good Humor man pedaling ice cream to kids on the street. He worked for the Transformer Corp of America testing transformers, then later building speakers for radios. After that he went to work for Spaulding and Gorham, a large store on Michigan Ave. in Chicago. He kept inventory of purchases and sales. It was while working there that he met and married Lois Jean Kane. They were married on November 4th, 1936.

They had their only child on August 8th, 1937; James Moore Kane.

Once his family was started, James left Spaulding & Gorham and took a job selling insurance, then worked for a shop in LaGrange repairing home appliances, and eventually was sent out in the field to work in large heating plants installing stokers in furnaces. Grandpa moved to Friendship, Wisconsin in 1946 and started farming. He also worked, as many local men did, at various jobs associated with the constructing the Castle Rock Dam. He worked clearing the bottom lands of trees, mining local stone for riprap (he was licensed in dynamite!), and other similar work.

He spent the last 45 years of his life as a member of the Steamfitters local 394 in Madison, Wisconsin. The last 20 years before he retired he was the Serviceman for a company out of Madison, named, Pharo.

He was preceded in death by his parents, two sisters, grandson, Patrick Joeseph Kane and his wife of 55 years, Lois Jean (Trostle) Kane.

He is survived by his only son, James M. Kane and his wife, Judith A. (Pogline) Kane; their children: son, Daniel Kane, his wife, Diane Kane and their daughter, Katelyn Kane; daughter, Kathleen Polum, her husband, Donald Polum and their daughter, Rebecca Polum; daughter, Teresa Veraguth, and her husband Patrick Veraguth, and their sons, Alexander, Theodore (T.J.), and Gunnar Veraguth; daughter, Coleen Feucht and her husband, Jeremy Feucht, and their son Grayson Feucht; and a host of relatives and friends.

James grandson, Dan, said he was a teenager when his Grandpa made a comment to him that has stuck in his memory to this day.　As Grandpa tapped his chest, he said "My happiest day will be the day I die, as that will be the day I get my ticket to heaven.."