Goldie Balza & Eleanor
Catherine Rickel
Goldie BALZA was born February 27th, 1913 in the town of Duval, Door county, Wisconsin. Goldie was the fourth born son of Theophile Anton Joseph BALZA and Mathilda FINENDAEL.
Eleanor Catherine RICKEL was born October 27th, 1913, in Humboldt, Brown county Wisconsin the daughter of Bert RICKEL and Louise MERCIER.
Goldie Balza married Eleanore Catherine Rickel on May 9th, 1934 in St. Mary's Catholic Church in Humboldt, Wisconsin. Together they bought the Boehm dairy farm on Finger Road, by the Holy Martyr's of Gorchim Church in the township of Green Bay. Gall Anton, Goldie's half brother remembers when they moved to the Boehm farm, and his mother and brothers would go out and stay at the farm for a week or two and help out by hoeing beets.
Goldie and Eleanor and raised two children:
- Beverly BALZA, who married William Donald NANIOT and raised three children (Gail, Eugene and Llana).
- Larry BALZA, who married Janet Ann ALBERTS and raised three children (Eric, Jessica and Evan).
Goldie retired from farming in 1967 and sold the farm and built a house one road over from the farm, just outside the city limits of Green Bay.
Eleanor died in Humboldt, on September 14 1994 (obituary) and was buried in Nicolet Memorial Gardens. Goldie died in Green Bay, on July 16th, 1985 (obituary) and is buried in the Shrine of the Good Shepard Mausoleum.
Memories:
BALZA Ancestry 
The surname BALZA is a derivation (Belzer, Balzac, Balzer,
etc.) of the ancient name "BALTHAZAR" (one of the
three wise men). The country of origin for this Balza
family is Belgium more specifically Sart-Walhain in Namur
Province where we've traced our earliest known ancestors.
At this time the earliest known family group with the Balza
surname is Jean Joseph BALZA
who married Marie Therese
BRABANT. Very little is known about this family - it is
still a subject for on-going research (Jean Joseph Balza Sr.
Family History). They had at least one son Jean Joseph Balza (1804 -
1889) who married Virginie BERO
(1807 - 1872) and they where blessed with eight children (Jean Joseph Balza Family
History). The youngest of these was Antoine BALZA (1845 - 1927)
who married Marie Antoinette
FLAHAUT (1845 - 1927). Antoine and Antoinette had six
children while living in Belgium. They and five of their six
children immigrated to Duval, Door County Wisconsin in 1880 and
became U.S. Citizens. They had four more children in Duval (Antoine Balza Family History).
Their sixth foreign born child was Theophile Antoine Joseph BALZA
(1878 - 1941) who first married Mathilda
FINENDAEL (1882 - 1917). Theophile and Mathilda had 6
children (Theophile Joseph Balza Family History) the fourth child
a son was Goldie BALZA
(1913 - 1985) whose family described above.
FINENDAEL Ancestry
The oldest known FINENDAEL ancestor is Henry FINENDAEL ( 1850 - ?) who married Adolphina ? (1850 - ?). Henry and Adolphina had six children. Their third child was Mathilda FINENDAEL (1882 - 1917) who married Theophile Antoine Joseph BALZA (1878 - 1941). Mathilda and Theophile had 6 children together (Theophile Balza Family History). Their fourth child was Goldie BALZA whose family history is detailed above.
DEGRAVE Ancestry
? Ancestry
Last updated: January 12th, 2000
Copyright 2000, Richard M. Balza
To make corrections or obtain more information contact: Richard M. Balza