Diane Haupt-Wilke

I grew up in Wittenberg and graduated from Wittenberg-Birnamwood High School. I recall both fond and bittersweet memories from my childhood spent there. After the death of our mother in 1966, my sister, just three, and I, age seven, were raised by our paternal grandparents. Some of the best times of our young lives were spent with them, as well as our pets. Raising and showing our horses and rabbits in 4-H and local shows, we learned responsibility from a young age. Grandpa insisted we keep the manure picked up and loaded in a trailer, and he would haul it out to his woods near Elderon every week. This enabled us to keep our horses within the village limits for many years. Thankfully, (and thinking back, incredibly) the townspeople never once complained. We often skied behind our horses and “hitched” them to our toboggan to haul their grain home from the local feed mill in the winter.

My love of animals, especially horses, led to my school notebooks mysteriously filling up with sketches, rather than what should have been in them: homework. I remember later receiving drawing paper, pencils, and other art supplies as treasured gifts from my family.
I paint quite a bit of commissioned artwork, including furniture, ornaments, and murals in schools, churches, and homes. I was deeply humbled and honored to be asked to create the skating mural. It was a labor of love, to give something back to Wittenberg… the wonderful little town that gave me so very much.

Mural: "Wheee!!!!"