Thelma Kay Zeller

Thelma Kay Zeller, 83, of Green Bay, died on January 20, 2025. Born in Green Bay on June 6, 1941; Czech-American cooking and payday thrift set the tone of the house. Young, she understood that quiet competence outlasts loud plans. She built staging that other people trusted without knowing her name. A staging carpenter chalk line reel rode in her pocket like a spare prayer. Colleagues still mention a staging carpenter chalk line reel. She married Edward in 1966. They kept a house that stayed modest when the neighborhood did not. They raised two sons through public schools and ordinary weather. After Edward died in 2018, she kept the routines that still made sense: the walk, the garden, the Sunday call. Neighbors remember a wave from the driveway that meant you were seen. She liked early mornings before the heat or the noise. She died in Green Bay, among streets she never needed to explain. The extra coffee is still in the thermos.