BEATRICE FROELICH GREEN BAY, WI My mother, Beatrice Froelich, is the most dedicated Packer fan I know. She was nine months pregnant when she attended the 1961 Championship in Green Bay. Her first child was born ten days later. In 1999 doctors performed emergency surgery to remove blockage from a main artery of her heart. She was in cardiac care for days. Her doctor released her a day before a pre-season game. She walked to that game and watched the Packers win ONE DAY AFTER LAYING IN THE CARDIAC CARE UNIT! As a child Bea moved to Green Bay, and fell in love with the Packers. Her family lived near the Packer stadium. Bea and her siblings would walk to games with her dad, a Packer Band member. In 1957 Bea herself was in a band as part of the stadium dedication parade. Bea and her husband have had two season tickets ever since then. Early in their marriage her husband was unemployed. With three children to take care of money was scarce. Bea refused to turn in their season tickets. Besides groceries and rent the tickets were their only other purchase. After he found a job, they purchased a home one block off of Highland (Lombardi) Avenue on Oneida Street. Once again, Bea was a short walk from the Packer stadium. Forty-three years later they still live there, with the tree carved with the Lombardi Trophy in their front yard. On game days friends going to the game park for free at her house and often receive a post-game meal. Over the years thousands have enjoyed the hospitality offered by Bea and her husband. Bea has attended games coached by every head coach in Packer history, missing only one game in forty-five years. She was at the Ice Bowl and all fifteen of the other playoff games in Green Bay. The Snow Bowl of December 1st, 1985 was especially important to her, because it is the only game her entire family was able to sit together. She is an eternal Packer optimist who always believes they will win. She was humbled to represent all Packer fans at the referendum bill signing on Lambeau Field. The four speakers that day were the governor of Wisconsin, the mayor of Green Bay, the Packer president and Grandma Bea. She has passed on her devout loyalty to her descendants. Each child has their own tickets and is a Packer stockholder courtesy of Bea and her husband. She made sure each of her children and grandchildren received lifetime memberships to the Packer Hall of Fame where her name is on one of the original bricks. In Grandma Bea, they certainly have the perfect role model.
