F. Fred Powell

Francis Frederick “Fred” Powell (Puwalowski) passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his loving family on 25 December 2025. He was 88 years old.

Fred was born on 6 December 1937 in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, to Frank and Dorothy Puwalowski. He was the middle child, with an older sister, Mary Ann, and a younger brother, John (Jack).

Fred’s childhood was shaped by the traditions, strength, and love of his tight-knit Polish family and their deep Catholic faith — a profound spirituality that Fred put at the center of his entire life.

Some of Fred’s earliest and fondest childhood memories were at his neighborhood pond where he would play with his friends and cousins, floating homemade boats in the summer and learning to skate in the winter using leather-strap skates that defied maneuverability. He would later become a star high school hockey player known for his agility, speed, and a quick stick — skills undoubtedly formed by those first inadequate skates on that small pond.

When Fred was just four years old, his father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. As Fred grew up, his father’s declining health was a defining transition that forged Fred’s family-focused work ethic — a trait that he carried throughout his life as he gave unwavering priority to ensuring the well-being, health, and happiness of his family.

Fred attended St. Stanislaus Parish Elementary School in Stevens Point. He was a mischievous boy who loved playing classroom jokes on the teachers. He laughed about how he felt he "trained" the new young nuns who taught at the school.

At P.J. Jacobs High School, Fred was a popular and strong student who served as class president and thrived in athletics, lettering in hockey, track, and cross country. Fred had part-time jobs at an early age, but in his senior year he stepped away from sports and co-curricular activities so he could work more hours and save money to help support his parents and afford college.

Fred wanted to attend Marquette University in Milwaukee, but he didn’t have enough money for tuition, so he initially enrolled at the state college in Stevens Point. Fred’s father used connections from his previous employer, the Copps Company, to secure Fred a union job paying $2/hour (about $23/hour in 2025). By working long overtime hours at Copps, Fred saved enough money to eventually enroll at Marquette. He initially pursued engineering, but quickly decided it wasn’t a good fit, so he shifted to the Marquette business school.

It was during his years at Marquette when Fred had a life-changing encounter. Fred loved to dance and one night when out with his college friends, he convinced them to stop at a dance at the all-women's Mount Mary College. When he arrived, the event was nearly finished, but he had the chance to dance with one young woman. He made sure to get her name — Janet. One year later, Fred was back at Mount Mary for a blind date who turned out to be that same Janet! Although Janet didn't recognize him at first, Fred immediately knew it was her, calling it "love at first sight". Their courtship followed with 25-cent Sunday night meals at Mount Mary College, the Junior Prom, and long walks for pizza and frozen custard that often ended with Fred running to catch the last bus home.

Fred and Janet married in November 1960. Early in married life in Milwaukee, Fred worked at Northwestern Mutual Insurance and attended night school, while Janet began her teaching career.

Fred graduated from Marquette in 1961 and he and Janet soon moved to a two-bedroom flat in Milwaukee. In the first weekend, he painted the entire interior and put up a fence in the yard for the safety of their new baby son, Robert. That was an early example of Fred’s love for home improvement projects and ensuring his home and yard were in tip-top shape.

Fred’s first post-graduation job was with a national public accounting firm, conducting audits that required week-long trips to distant regional cities. Following the birth of their second son, Thomas, in 1964, the strain of work travel and being away from his young family stimulated Fred’s search for a new career.

Fred started a new beginning with a sales job at International Business Machines (IBM) requiring the family to move to Madison in 1965. The family purchased their first house in 1967. Today, this is still the Powell family home in Madison.

The house’s location in the budding Orchard Ridge community was a perfect fit for Fred’s eagerness to be involved locally. Among his many early contributions, Fred fundraised for St. Maria Goretti Catholic Parish, served on the neighborhood association board, and acted as treasurer for Ridgewood Pool.

Fred worked at IBM for 10 years selling business computers — machines which, at the time, filled an entire room. Adhering to IBM’s strict dress code of a dark suit, white shirt, tie, and black dress shoes, Fred scoured small nearby communities for sales opportunities. Fred was well-known for his honest, ethical character, his folksy sense of humor, and for always putting his client’s best interests first. Fred’s professional persistence and zeal for sales earned him many honors including annual recognition in the IBM “Hundred Percent Club”, the company’s prestigious internal award for the highest-performing salespeople.

Following his years at IBM, Fred focused on family stability in Madison, establishing a 30-year career in insurance, investment, and financial planning. Fred’s platinum reputation won him lifelong clients who continued to rely on him after his official retirement due to the immense trust they placed in him.

In the 1970s, Fred rediscovered his love of running. Running many miles a day helped him build endurance and focus, counter the stress of work, and create a close community of running friends. For over 40 years, Fred jogged during most lunch breaks with a group of University of Wisconsin (UW) staff and professors, running through the UW arboretum and campus in the warm months and at the UW Shell in the winter. During their runs, the group would have spirited debates about the issues of the day, and they formed lasting friendships that were strengthened as much by their disagreements as by their common ground.

It was one of those running friends who noticed a change in Fred’s jogging gait and encouraged him to discuss this with his doctor. That check-up led to an eventual diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease in 2009. But decades of 50-mile running weeks surely gave Fred the physical foundation to battle what followed — more than 15 years of progressively debilitating disease.

Although Fred found those years physically frustrating, he rarely complained about his health challenges. Instead, he gave regular thanks for God’s blessings — a loving family and the skills and resources to “always have enough”.

Fred’s unshakeable integrity and his steady moral compass were rooted in his Catholic faith. He carried that faith from his upbringing into his adulthood with daily mass and active participation at St. Maria Goretti (SMG), serving in liturgical roles and on various committees.

When Fred was a young father, he saw a need for a youth-focused program at the parish, so he spent a year leading the establishment of SMG’s first youth ministry program, which he also coordinated for a few years. Among the many contributions to his parish, he and Janet spent 10 years as the “Magical Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus” for the SMG annual Christmas party, where they loved to listen to the children's gift requests and appeared in countless family holiday pictures.

Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, Fred and his wife Janet were deeply involved with their sons’ school and co-curricular lives. Fred thrived on the near-constant cycle of sports, music, theater, clubs, and carpools and he took great pride in providing his sons with the best educational opportunities possible. Outside of school and activities, Fred was focused on working with his sons on projects and hobbies at home or captaining the many family road trip vacations throughout the US.

Over the years, whenever Fred was asked to contemplate his stage in life, he always foregrounded his thoughts in thanks to the “Good Lord”. People close to Fred know that his Catholic faith was central to his being. It was a faith that quietly shaped every day and everything he did. His faith flowed through his commitment to family, his daily devotion to mass, his profession, and his relationships with friends and his community.

As Fred lived with the progressing impacts of Parkinson’s disease, he and Janet continued to live their shared life to the fullest. Everyday joys at home and volunteering in the community were punctuated with family trips near and far, including overseas to Thailand and Japan and annual “snowbird” visits to Florida. Fred knew his physical constraints, but travel inspired him to push past those limits.

Fred adored his family and lived his life to be an ever-present, powerful, and principled example for his four sons and a devoted husband to the love of his life, Janet.

He will also be remembered for his love of home improvement projects, his constant quest for a meticulously groomed yard, his “safety first” motto, and his ability to craft almost anything out of plywood.

Fred is survived by his wife of 65 years, Janet; his brother, Jack; sons Robert (Carol), Michael (Alyona), and Daniel (Sachiko); grandchildren Oskar, Ophelia, Bellamie, Joe (Rylie) and Laurel (Bee); sister-in-law Donna; and his nephews and nieces Timothy (Kendra), Matthew, Bridget, Elizabeth, and Joanne. Fred was preceded in death by his son, Thomas, his sister, Mary Ann, and his brother-in-law, Victor.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, 2 January 2026 at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Parish, 602 Everglade Drive, Madison, WI 53717. Visitation will be from 9:30–11:00 a.m. and the 11:00 a.m. Mass will be followed by internment at Resurrection Cemetery in Madison and a lunch at St. Thomas Aquinas. The service will be live streamed. Please click on the following link: Live Stream

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Agrace Hospice and palliative care, the Parkinson's Foundation, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Madison, or a charity of your choice.

Please share your memories of Fred by posting in his guestbook.

Cress Funeral & Cremation Service

3610 Speedway Road Madison

(608) 238-3434