Claude J Coppersmith

Lifespan: 1907-04-16 — 1987-04-08

Summary

Born in Dyckesville, Brown County, Wisconsin to Frank Joseph Coppersmith and Odile Clemens Barette. Frank was 22 at Claude’s birth and worked at Northern Paper Mills in Green Bay; the family had moved out of the parents’ Red River community by 1907. Married Marie Ellen Bodoh on June 22, 1926 in Green Bay — Claude was 19, Marie 19. They had six children across 17 years (1928–1943): four sons (Leonard, Robert, Ronald, Roger) and two daughters (Dorothy, Florence). Their second son Robert died at age 11 in March 1947 — buried at Allouez Catholic alongside his eventual parents.

Employer unknown. Earlier framing in this file imported a family oral history (“great-grandpa was an executive at a paper company,” told by Foggy’s Uncle Jim) and assumed it referred to Claude — but Jim’s great-grandfather is Frank Joseph Coppersmith, not Claude. The oral history belongs to Frank’s record, where Northern Paper Mills employment is documented. Claude’s own employer remains undetermined; the three-generation paper-mill thread (Frank → ? → Roger at Georgia Pacific) is a hypothesis worth testing via census employer fields, not a confirmed pattern.

Developed Huntington’s disease — severe signs by the late 1970s. The disease affected his mood and movement. The family wintered near Benson, Arizona in later years; their son Ronald (developmentally disabled, never married) traveled with them. Died April 8, 1987 in Benson, Arizona at age 79. Buried at Allouez Catholic Cemetery and Chapel Mausoleum in Green Bay — body brought back to Wisconsin. Marie outlived him by 11 years.

Lived on Point Comfort, Nicolet Drive, Green Bay area with Marie. From the memoir: “Great-Grandpa Claude was difficult and unpredictable and the adults seemed careful around him in a way they weren’t around anyone else.”

Relationships

• Parents: Frank Joseph Coppersmith & Odile Clemens Barette
• Spouse: Marie Ellen Bodoh (m. 1926-06-22, Green Bay)
• Children (6):
  • Dorothy Elaine Coppersmith (1928–2002) — Foggy’s grandmother
  • Leonard C Coppersmith (1929–2003) — m. Virginia Karen Pokorny
  • Robert Coppersmith (1936–1947) — died age 11
  • Ronald J “Ronnie” Coppersmith (~1939–?) — never married
  • Roger H. Coppersmith Sr. (1943–2018) — m. Carol Hunsucker
  • Florence (Coppersmith) Challe (1932–2020) — m. Alton Challe

Notable family pattern: two-brothers-two-sisters cross-link

Claude’s sons Leonard and Roger married two Pokorny sisters — Leonard married Virginia Karen Pokorny (1958), Roger had his children with Virginia’s sister Carol Hunsucker. Confirmed via Virginia’s 2009 obituary at Ryan Funeral Home, De Pere, which lists Carol Hunsucker among her siblings. The Pokorny family (parents George + Josephine) had 11 children — a Czech/Bohemian family in the Green Bay area.

Sources

• FamilySearch person record (birth, marriage, death, burial details).
• Children’s obituaries: Roger 2018 (Malcore Funeral Home, lists Claude as deceased parent + 40+ yr Georgia Pacific career + US Army service); Florence 2020 (Eugene Register-Guard, full transcript in sources/obituaries/); Rickie 2012 (legacy.com via Green Bay Press-Gazette, names Leonard + Virginia Pokorny as parents).
• Daughter-in-law Virginia Pokorny Coppersmith obit 2009 (Ryan Funeral Home, De Pere): names 6 children of Leonard + Virginia, lists Carol Hunsucker as Virginia’s sister (cross-link to Roger’s marriage).
• Memoir chapters: “Great-Grandma Coppersmith,” “The Oregon Trip.”

Research Notes

• Death date discrepancy: earlier file had 1987-06-01; FamilySearch says 1987-04-08. FamilySearch indexes from death certificates — likely more reliable.
• Dyckesville birthplace puts Frank’s young family in a Belgian/Catholic settlement east of Green Bay.
• Paper company executive claim corrected 2026-05-11: The “executive at one of the paper companies” line in earlier versions of this file came from Uncle Jim’s oral history. Jim’s great-grandfather is Frank Joseph Coppersmith (Jim → Dorothy → Claude → Frank), not Claude. The story belongs to Frank’s record. Foggy’s original memoir skepticism — “I don’t know if that’s true given the shack of a house on Point Comfort” — turns out to have been pointing at a real evidence gap: there is no documented Claude employment in any paper company. The “shack of a house” observation is consistent with Claude being a regular mill worker (if that) rather than an executive.
• Huntington’s is hereditary (autosomal dominant) — inherited from Frank or Odile? Confirmed in Dorothy’s later diagnosis. Unclear which of Claude’s siblings (Wilfred, Harold, Geraldine, Agnes) also carried it. Worth checking Wilfred/Harold death records for cause.
• Spacing of children: Dorothy 1928, Leonard 1929, Florence 1932, Robert 1936, Ronald ~1939, Roger 1943. Three multi-year gaps (1929→1932, 1932→1936, 1939→1943) — possible miscarriages/infant losses not in current record.
• Two Coppersmith brothers (Leonard, Roger) marrying two Pokorny sisters (Virginia, Carol) is a documented cross-link worth preserving — sibling marriages across families were not unusual in tight-knit Green Bay parishes.

Next-session research targets

• FindAGrave Memorial ID for Claude — confirmed buried at Allouez Catholic (referenced on his children Florence #212848283 and Roger #212849405) but his own Memorial ID still needs direct lookup at findagrave.com (search results blocked by anti-scrape protection).
• Middle name behind “J” — Walloon Belgian pattern strongly suggests Joseph (Frank Joseph, Isidore Joseph, Harold Joseph). FamilySearch baptismal record at SS. Peter & Paul Green Bay would confirm.
• 1930/1940/1950 census — Claude + Marie’s household with growing children, employer field.
• WWII draft registration card (the “old man’s draft” was 1942, ages 45–64 — Claude would have been 35, possibly included in 4th registration). Would name employer.
• Georgia Pacific / Fort Howard / Northern Paper Mills employment records — three-generation paper-mill thread is now a hypothesis to test, not a claim to verify. Frank confirmed Northern Paper Mills; Roger confirmed Georgia Pacific 40+ years. Claude is the missing middle layer.