Barbara A. Jennison

Barbara Ann Jennison, Weston, WI, died the morning of July 2, 2026, from the effects of vascular dementia. Barb was born in her family home in Amherst, WI, on November 4, 1943, the daughter of Phillip Charles Hamilton and Blanche (McGinley) Hamilton. Her brother, Phillip, Jr., arrived in August 1945 and together they experienced the hospitalization of their mother six weeks later to recover from tuberculosis, the divorce of their parents soon after, and a move with their mother to Wisconsin Rapids, where they settled. There, Barb’s Catholic faith was formed in childhood as she attended SS Peter and Paul Elementary and later the Our Lady Queen of Heaven School before graduating in 1963, alongside her brother, from Assumption High School.

After graduation, Barb worked at Emmons Stationary and moved to Minneapolis in 1964 to attend the Humboldt Institute, where she completed a course in Airline and Business Training in 1965. There, a lifelong passion for traveling began, strengthened during her first job at Northwest Orient Airlines as a reservation agent. Barb returned to central Wisconsin as a ticket agent for Northwest Orient in the Wausau Airport, and in August 1966 she married Lewis W. Perkins, moving to Schofield where they raised their three children, Scott William, Sarah Jean, and Shelley Lynn. They divorced in 1979.

At the American Automobile Association, Barb experienced the business side of the travel industry by managing the travel agency in their Wausau office. Travel became a career path that she would continue to follow throughout her life, and she began roaming across the United States and around the globe—passport in hand—to share reviews with her clients and better inform her sales technique. Souvenirs from Alaska, Hawaii, Germany, Ireland, and Mexico lined her office shelves. Barb met James L. Jennison through friends, and the pair married in November 1982. In Jim, she found a partner just as interested in the travel business, and when Barb ventured out on her own to open The Travel Agency (later Jennison Travel) in Rothschild, he joined as the part-time office manager.

Through her travel agency, Barb organized and escorted group tours, coordinated destination weddings, planned honeymoons, booked young families on their first vacations, and made many friends—most beginning as clients. She became a Certified Travel Agent, and later joined MAST, a Midwest consortium to educate, train, and support travel agents, earning many awards from them for her business successes and dedication to the field. With the change in the travel reservation business increasingly moving toward phone and internet reservations, Barb brought her business into her Schofield home in 2001, a year that further changed the travel industry. For over twenty years she grew Jennison Travel, eventually closing when her health, and Jim’s, began to decline.

As much as she loved to travel, she perhaps more so enjoyed time at home with family. It wasn’t uncommon for her and Jim to enjoy a glass of wine as they watched the sun set from their deck, and the grill was always ready to go for a family meal to celebrate life events and birthdays. Fridays were often spent waiting for a table at Carmelo’s for fish fry, or at Peking or The Palms Supper Club, the latter a favorite for regular dinners with her friends. Always one to enjoy a party, she celebrated her 80th birthday in 2023, just as the effects of her dementia began surfacing, surrounded by cousins from the McGinley, Lemke, and Hamilton clans, close friends, and neighbors.

Barb was predeceased by her parents, Blanche Hamilton and Phillip Hamilton, Sr.; her stepmother Delores Hamilton; her husband, Jim Jennison; her brother Phillip Hamilton, Jr.; her step-son Jay Jennison; her granddaughter Ellianah Bolduc, and nephew Joe Hamilton. Surviving her are son Scott Perkins, Pittsburgh, PA; daughters Sarah (Ken) Maciaz, Kronenwetter, and Shelley (Ryan) Wucherer, Green Bay; and stepdaughters Jami (Joe Mershon) Traska and Jill (Tim) Bolduc. Missing their “Gramma Babs” are her grandchildren Liz (Luke) Hilleshiem, Peri Maciaz, Madi Wucherer, Ben Wucherer, Duke Wucherer, Halle (Mathew) Axling, Courtney Bolduc, and Brooke Jennison. The youngest family members, her great-grandchildren, Vivienne, Ava, and Riley Hilleshiem, will hear stories of great-grandma Barb for years to come. Her sisters-in-law, Donna Landeen and Dorie Hamilton, niece Niki Hamilton, and nephew Phil Hamilton III, will miss catching up with her, as will lifelong friends Mary Towle and Sharon Lorenzen. Too many to name, Barb’s cousins from the McGinley, Lemke, Wirtz, Ecker, Skibbie, and Buehning families will remember the sparkle in her eye, her laugh, strong family devotion, and polka dancing at their weddings.

In her last weeks, Barb was comforted by the caregiving team from St. Croix Hospice, Wausau. Her family wishes to extend their gratitude to Becky, Brenda, and Jess at St. Croix as well as the entire team at Careview Transitional Care (formerly Pride TLC), Weston, for providing long-term assisted living care.

Brainard’s Funeral and Cremation Center, Wausau, will coordinate her last wishes. Visitation will be on Friday, July 31, 2026, at 9:30am at St. Anne Catholic Parish, Wausau, followed by a 10:30am funeral service led by Fr. Al Slowiak.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks you toast to Barb’s life on your next trip—she would have loved to hear about where you stayed, what you ate, and all of the interesting sites you experienced while away. The many “Having a great time! Wish you were here!” postcards she received over the years speaks to her place in all of our hearts.