Angeline E. Berger
Angeline E. Berger, age 96, of Elk Mound died on Monday August 31, 2015 at the Neighbors of Dunn County in Menomonie. She was born July 3, 1919, to Julius and Marguerite (Shumacher) Hoffman at the home of her grandparents, Joseph and Mary Schumacher, in rural Elk Mound. Her family moved to Milwaukee when she was three years old and there she attended St. Joseph’s Grade School, Messmer High, and graduated from West Division High School. As a child, she loved spending her summers with her brother Dick at the Schumacher farm.
After a three-year courtship she married her loving and dear husband, Steve Berger on September 3, 1938 at St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Menomonie. Angeline “Sweetie” learned to be a farmer’s wife during the drought and depression years. They started farming on a rundown farm and the early years were a struggle. They gradually improved the land and buildings, adding beautifully landscaped gardens and trees. She had a great love for the beauty of nature and found her spiritual life through it. An avid reader, her love for learning carried on throughout her lifetime. Loving and taking care of family was the greatest joy and goal in her life.
Angeline loved homemaking, baking hundreds of loaves of bread, preparing delicious meals, decorating cakes, arranging flowers, and was a talented seamstress. She made her own wedding dress and the dresses of her four attendants. She loved to entertain, having many guests and parties over the seventy-two years living on the farm. After the death of her husband, Steve, in 1980, she continued to live on the home farm with the care and help of her three children, two of whom built homes on the farmland.
Angeline is survived by her sons Richard (Gloria) of Menomonie, James (Nancy) of Elk Mound, and daughter, Margaret (Gregory) Brunn, of Elk Mound; grandsons Greg (Stacy) of Menomonie, Todd of Hudson, Jeff (Kris), of Port Washington, Darren (Shirley) of Madison, Blair (Jennifer) of Fridley, MN, and Steven Brunn of Minneapolis; and nine great grandchildren.
Preceding her in death were her beloved husband, Steve; her dear brother and sister-in-law, Richard & Marian Hoffman; an infant brother, George, and infant great granddaughter, Sara Ann Berger.
Angeline’s life will be celebrated at 11:00 AM Friday September 4, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Elk Mound with Rev. Joseph Nakwah officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery.
Visitation will be held one hour prior to services at the church on Friday. A social gathering and lunch will follow the services.
Memorials may be made to the Friends of the Red Cedar State Trail/Hoffman Hills, Oak Savannha Project, P.O. Box 628, Menomonie, WI, or the charity of your choice. Angeline was very proud of this beautiful park established by her brother and his wife.
The family wishes to thank the dedicated and loving staff of Inglenook Terrace at The Neighbors of Dunn County, Angeline’s home for the past five years, and for the compassionate assistance of St. Croix Hospice over the past months.