Paula Deutschman

Paula Deutschman, 95, of St. Charles died Monday, September 2, 2024, after a short illness. Dozens of family members visited Paula in her final days before she passed away at Methodist Hospital in Rochester.

The daughter of Roland Tews and Zula Marie (Francis) Tews, Paula was born October 6, 1928, in Gary, IN, and was named after Roland’s sister, Paula. Her mother died shortly after giving birth. Soon after, her father moved to Milwaukee and moved in with his parents. Paula’s grandparents and aunt Paula helped raise her there. When she was 7, her father married Elise Peters, and several years later, Paula’s half-sisters, Helene (Tews) Roesing and Rhoda Tews, were born.

Paula attended Lutheran elementary schools and graduated from Lutheran High School in Milwaukee. There, in 1948, she met Frank Deutschman at the Eagles Ballroom. Two years later, on July 8, 1950, they got married. From their honeymoon at the Black Hills and Yellowstone National Park, to their last days together watching Milwaukee Brewers games, Paula and Frank were together for 71 years.

They first lived in Milwaukee and started their family there in 1951 with the birth of their first child, Lynn. Two more daughters, and three sons followed. At the Deutschman home, countless board game battles took place, singing and music often hung in the air, and sports and the Green Bay Packers were never far from discussion.

In 1967, the family headed west, moving to Winona. There the household grew to 9 with the birth of their youngest son, Robert. And later, the couple’s two oldest daughters married, and their first two grandchildren were born. Life in Winona featured frequent rounds of golf as members of the Winona Country Club, numerous dinners at the Hot Fish Shop, and many family vacations to the white beaches of Panama City, FL.

Florida would later become Paula and Frank’s home. They moved there in 1980, first to Leesburg, and then to Naples, where Paula worked as a bookkeeper at the Naples Beach Club. The couple eventually retired in Naples, and their time thereafter included more golfing, many more family visits and events, and keeping close watch on the Packers and Brewers from afar.

While in Florida, the couple was touched by tragedy, but many joys. Michael, Paula and Frank’s fourth child, died in 1985. But the rest of their children married, and 9 more grandchildren were born.

In 2004, Frank and Paula returned to Minnesota, relocating to St. Charles, where they lived the rest of their lives. The family continued to grow while there, including the birth of their 12th and 13th grandchildren, and the births of their 15 great-grandchildren. Family was at the center of their years back north, marked by attending sports and school events of their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and several family vacations around the country. That included a 2019 road trip, along with her oldest daughters Lynn and Lori, and Lori’s son Tom, to destinations in Washington, Oregon, and California, Paula’s first time on the Pacific coast.

Paula was preceded in death by her husband Frank; parents Roland and Zula Tews; step-mother Elise Tews; son Michael Rory Deutschman; and granddaughter Sara Suzanne Ford. She is survived by her children and their spouses Lynn (Deutschman) and John Walsh, Lori (Deutschman) and John Ford, John Deutschman and Lori (Swiggum), Alan Deutschman and Kaye (Thorpe), Anne (Deutschman) and Raymond Roberts, and Robert Deutschman and Shawn (Behrenbruch); 13 grandchildren; and 15 great grandchildren.

Visitation will be at Faith Lutheran Church, 648 E. 5th St., St. Charles, MN on Saturday, September 7, 2024 at 2:00 pm with a memorial service to follow at 3:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, memorials will be sent to: The American Cancer Society, the American Diabetes Association and the Animal Humane Society.