Obituaries
- Name: Dr. Paul Plueddeman, 79
- Died: February 2, 2010
- Dr. Paul M. Plueddeman, a physician who for 50 years served the Wisconsin communities of Markesan and Oshkosh through his medical career, his faith and a life-long commitment to public service, died Tuesday at the Evergreen Retirement Community in Oshkosh, following a stroke. He was 79 years old.
Dr. Plueddeman moved with his young family to the Green Lake County community of Markesan in 1960 to join the medical practice of Dr. Dowe Cupery. Affiliated with Waupun Memorial Hospital, Dr. Plueddeman began his career engaged in a traditional, rural general practice that included making house calls to visit patients, supported by the large, black-leather bag of supplies ever-present in the back seat of his car. His partnership with Dr. Cupery in the Markesan Medical Center began in 1962 and ended in 1976 when Dr. Cupery retired and the partners were unable to recruit another doctor to join the small-town practice. In 1977, Dr. Plueddeman joined a group of physicians who contracted to provide emergency-room services to Mercy Medical Center in Oshkosh, and he practiced in the ER at Mercy until his retirement in 1997. Dr. Plueddeman also served as the medical director at Evergreen Retirement Community in Oshkosh and at the Markesan Retirement Home, and was an officer in the Wisconsin Association of Medical Directors. He was also a trainer for the Oshkosh Fire Department EMT squad.
As a member of the Markesan United Methodist Church, Dr. Plueddeman sang in the choir and served in a number of leadership posts, and was a Lay Member to Conference. Backed by the church, he started a local ministry project called Appliance Fest that collected and distributed used home appliances to families in need in Green Lake County. After his retirement he became active in a weekly ministry to inmates at the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun and at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage. He was a volunteer to Habitat for Humanity, and made two mission trips to Guatemala with the organization Doctors of Faith.
An Eagle Scout, Dr. Plueddeman became Scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 28 in Markesan shortly after his arrival in the community, and served in that capacity for more than 30 years. He placed great value on the practical skills, leadership training and moral compass he believed Scouting offered young men, and was proud that his small troop produced 16 Eagle Scouts during his tenure as Scoutmaster. As a Scout, he attend the 1947 World Jamboree in Moisson, France, and attended World Jamborees in Canada, Chile, and England as an adult leader. Dr. Plueddeman was also active in training adult Scout leaders, and received the prestigious Silver Beaver Award from the Bay Lakes Council in recognition of his many years of service to Scouting.
As a teenager, Dr. Plueddeman took a guided paddling trip into Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario, an experience that inspired a life-long passion for back-country travel and nights spent "under canvas." Through his life, he made more than a dozen return trips to the Boundary Waters region, paddling and camping with Scouts and with friends and family until past his 75th birthday. In 1972 he led the Markesan Scouts on a backpacking trip along the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina and would later hike on trails from Alaska to Texas, including trips through Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Grand Canyon National Parks, and in the Sierra Nevada Range in California. In 2009, he traveled to the West African country of The Gambia to visit a Scouting friend.
Paul Plueddeman was born on January 7, 1931, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father was chemist for a paint manufacturer, a job that took the family to Rockford, Ill., when Paul was about five years old. He graduated from Rockford West High School in 1949, earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Beloit College in 1953, and received his medical degree from the University of Illinois-Chicago in 1957. He completed an internship at Cincinnati General Hospital in 1958, and served his country from 1958 to 1960 as a Naval officer and doctor stationed at Camp Pendleton in San Diego, California.
Dr. Plueddeman resided in Markesan until his death. He is survived by his wife, Sandra of Markesan; his son Charles of Oshkosh; his daughter Marian of Soldotna, Alaska; his daughter Kate of Sandy, Utah; and his son Paul of Princeton, Wisconsin; and his sister Marian of Phoenix, Arizona; 10 grandchildren and two great-grand daughters. He is preceded in death by his parents, Hugh and Elizabeth Plueddeman; and by his daughters Sarah Jane and Jennifer.
Dr. Plueddeman's life will be celebrated with services on February 6, beginning at 11 a.m. at the Markesan United Methodist Church in Markesan, Wis., with visitation at the church from 10 to 11 a.m. Pastor Paul Yoder will officiate. There will also be visitation on Friday, February 5, at Wachholz Family Funeral Home, 181 S. Main St., Markesan, from 6 to 8 p.m. Burial to follow service at Markesan Memorial Cemetary.
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