Winch, Bernice L. (Reyerson) 1918-2012

REYERSON, WINCH, FOLLMAN, COOK, KRAUS, QUILL, RAUSCH, KRAM

Posted By: cheryl Locher moonen (email)
Date: 8/5/2021 at 20:31:26

Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA) - Sunday, June 24, 2012

GUTTENBERG, Iowa - Bernice Lucille (Reyerson) Winch, 94, of Guttenberg, died Friday, June 22, 2012, at her daughter's home near Osterdock.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday, June 27, at St. John's Congregational Church, Garber, with the Rev. Harold McMillin officiating. Burial will be in the Guttenberg City Cemetery. Friends may call from 3 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 26, at Tuecke-Allyn Funeral Home & Cremation Service, Guttenberg. Friends also may call after 9 a.m. Wednesday at the church.

She was born on March 25, 1918, daughter of George and Selma Reyerson in Twin Lakes, Minn., where her father was a butter maker. She lived her childhood years in Twin Lakes and later the Iowa towns of Nashua, Nordness, Littleport, Northwood and Kensett, where her father was employed as a butter maker. After the death of her mother, when she was 12, she made her home for several years with her Reyerson grandparents, along with her two younger sisters.

Bernice attended school in these various towns and graduated from high school in 1936. After graduation, she came to Garber to make her home with her father, who at this time was a butter maker there.

She married Ernest G. Winch, of rural Garber, on Dec. 7, 1938, at St. John's Congregational Church, which at that time was called Evangelical and Reformed Church and were members ever since. This marriage union blessed them with four children. Two nephews, LaVerl and Ronald Follman, lived their childhood years in this family under the guidance and care of Ernest and Bernice.

Bernice was an active member of the church guild and a past Sunday School teacher. She was baptized in infancy at the Silver Lake Lutheran Church and confirmed in Hope Lutheran of Littleport.

The couple began their new life together farming and living on the old Winch homestead in the valley. On Dec. 7, 1988, they observed their golden wedding anniversary, having lived on the same farm during those 50 years.

Bernice was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She was an active, life-long partner, helper and companion to her husband Ernie on the farm. She enjoyed spending time with her family, cross-stitching, cooking, baking and her kitties, especially her white kitty, Misty.

Surviving are her four children, Ernest L. (Betty) Winch, of Asbury, Larry (Sheila) Winch, of Guttenberg, Arliss (Michael R.) Cook, of Apache Junction, Ariz., and Renae (Dave) Kraus, of Osterdock; 14 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; siblings, Phyllis Quill, Joanne Rausch and Don and Harlan Reyerson; and many other relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Ernest G. Winch on March 30, 2004; two grandsons, Chad Winch and Matthew Cook; and a sister, Wilma Kram.