Joyce Bara

Joyce M. Bara, 86, of Hatley, passed away on Saturday, August 24, 2024. She was born on November 25, 1937, to the late Bernard and Frances (Dombeck) Baranowski. 

Joyce was the youngest of 15 children (6 boys & 9 girls). She graduated from D. C. Everest high school. After graduation, Joyce worked for a department store on the switchboard and also in the lab at St. Mary’s Hospital. In 1958, she went to Milwaukee, found a job at Sears in the credit department and married Onofry ‘Oney’ Kuklinski in 1959. In 1962, they spent 18 months in Germany and traveled to seven other countries. After returning to Milwaukee, she went back to work and gave birth to a son Bryan, and a daughter Crystal. Joyce enjoyed a career in banking until 1989. She worked as an administrator for St. Anne’s Little Sisters of the Poor. She then opened her own accounting firm and semi-retired in 2023, but continued to help clients into 2024 when her health declined. Joyce enjoyed travelling, visiting, entertaining, reading and gardening. Her favorite flowers were marigolds. 

Joyce is survived by her children, Bryan (Kim) Kuklinski, and Crystal Flugaur; her sister, Margaret Goytowski; as well as many nieces, nephews and friends.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Bernard and Frances Baranowski; siblings, Gertrude Dittman, Emmeline (Florian) Pergolski, , Prosper Baranowski, Leonard (Ruth) Barnowsky, Matilda (Felix) Easker, and Bertha Baranowski, Edwin (Cecilia) Baranowski, Ernest Baranowski, Henry (Mildred) Baranowski, Rupert Baranowski, Loretta (Paul) Falkowski, Henrietta Baranowski, Norma Gray.

A funeral service will take place at 11:00 AM, Friday, August 30, 2024, at Brainard Funeral Home in Wausau. A visitation will run from 9:00 AM until the time of services at the funeral home. A graveside service will take place at St. Michael’s Catholic Cemetery after services.