Jane Marie Elton

Jane Marie Elton (McConaghy), 70, of La Crosse died on Monday, January 4, 2021. She put up a tremendous fight for life, but ultimately her MS won.

Jane was born on October 27, 1950, in La Crosse, to James and Adeline (Oestreich) McConaghy. Jane went to Holy Trinity Grade School and graduated from Aquinas High School in 1968.

Jane worked at the La Crosse Telephone Company as a Customer Service Representative for 6 years, enjoyed competing in karate tournaments and winning many dance contests, particularly when Doobie Brothers, China Grove, brought out her famous dance moves. She moved to Milwaukee, joined the U.S. Army Reserves, and worked for the federal government at HUD as an Economist Secretary and later as a Service Representative at Social Security Administration (SSA) until she became permanently disabled from Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and moved back to La Crosse.

In 1999, Ron Elton came back into her life and they married on July 19, 2009, in La Crosse. Ron has MS too so they shared a common understanding of the disease and a deep love, respect, and commitment to each other – true soul mates. She had a close spiritual connection with God and also loved her cats throughout her life -Tiffer, Smokey Joe and Ginger - who were like children to her. She loved a simple life with family-everything made Jane in awe. She loved sitting on her wheelchair ramp soaking up the sun and watering her flowers and grass. She also took great pride and loved caring for her family home, where she lived most of her life.

Throughout the years, Jane loved the friendships that she made with her frequent visits to Franciscan-Mayo Health Care System, her transit service staff, and most recently the close connections with staff that she made during her stay at Sparta-Mayo Heath Care System and Viroqua Home Services where she was in transitional care since February 2020 fighting to get back to her beloved home and Ron, which was made more difficult due to the pandemic.

Jane is survived by her husband, Ron Elton; her brother, John (Jan) McConaghy in De Pere, Wisconsin; her sister, Phyllis Neberman in La Crosse; her brother, Dick (AiLing) McConaghy in Murrieta, California; and her sister, Julie (Michael) Freeman in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She loved her nieces and nephews - Lynette, David, Jolene, Nicole, John, Robert, Becky, Melissa, Stephanie, Barry, Jen, Callie and their spouses and children.  She was preceded in death by her mother, father. and her sister and brother-in-law, Patty and Bob Kayser.

A public visitation will be held from 9:30 – 10:30 a.m., on Friday, January 8 ^th, at Schumacher-Kish Funeral and Cremation Services of La Crosse with a private family service to follow. Burial will be immediately following at the Woodlawn Cemetery and is open to the public. Any memorials may be given to the MS Society in her name. Online condolences may submitted at www.schumacher-kish.com .