BERGE, Dr. Richard

BERGE, BRODALE, BERGE, BRODALE, LARSEN, RAUSSMUSEN, STEEN, WINTERHOF, HABERECHT, MORGAN, HANSON, SMITH

Posted By: Annette Blake
Date: 10/30/2007 at 20:44:14

1926-2006 Redig Funeral Home

Funeral services for Dr. Richard Berge, 79, of Aurelia were 10:30 Wednesday, April 5, 2006, at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Alta with Pastor Ted Ellders officiating. Internment was in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Aurelia, IA.

Richard died Sunday, April 2, 2006, at the Cherokee Regional Medical Center in Cherokee, IA.

Richard Deane Berge was born on May 5, 1926, the son of Ernest Byron and Laura Christina (Brodale) Berge in Decorah, Iowa. He was baptized and confirmed at St. Olaf Church in Bode, Ia. He attended Maple Lawn School and graduated from Bode High School in Bode. Richard then served in the US Air Force in Guam at the end of WWII. After being discharged from the service, he attended Luther College in Decorah, IA, for three years before his acceptance into the University of Iowa College of Medicine. On November 25, 1953, Richard married Anna Jeanette Larsen in Audubon. Richard and Anna lived in Lansing, Michigan, while he served his one-year internship at Edward Sparrow Hospital. They then moved to Aurelia in 1955, where he practiced medicine for the next 35 years. In 1990 the couple moved to Iowa City where he worked for the Steindler Orthopedic Clinic for five years until he retired and returned to Aurelia in 1995.

He was a member of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Alta and served on the church board, served on the Aurelia School board, was on the founding board of Sunset Knoll, was a member of Kiwanis and numerous hospital committees. He loved hunting, fishing, traveling with family, and enjoyed multiple hobbies.

Preceding Richard in death were his parents, his father-in-law, Lewis Larsen and mother-in-law Minna (Raussmusen) Larsen, and one brother-in-law, Emmert Steen.

Survived by his wife Anna of Aurelia, six children; Steven and his wife Jean Berge of Iowa City, Beth and her husband Russell Winterhof of Aurelia, Eric Berge of Cherokee, Joel Berge of Honolulu, II, Rebecca and her husband Fred Haberecht of Ft. Collins, Co, and Dr. Jennifer Berge and her husband Bob Morgan of West Burlington and nine grandchildren, Kathryn and Kristine Berge, Nathan Winterhof and his wife Karen Winterhof, and Philip Winterhof, Hannah and Freddie Haberect and Zachary and Lauren Morgan. Also surviving are two sisters, Phyllis and her husband James Hanson of Des Moines, and Phelva and James Smith of Chicago, IL. and four brothers-in-law and a sister-in-law; Dr. Lawrence and Jane Larsen of Harlan, IA, Neoma Steen of Elk Horn, Ia, Dr. Arnold and Dorothy Larsen of Ft. Collins, CO, Dr. Pheter and Inotha Larsen of Des Moines, and Dr. Phillip and Sandy Larsen of Arden Hills, MN, nieces, nephews and other relatives and friends.