Mary Sherman Auffhammer

AUFFHAMMER, SHERMAN, BERKA

Posted By: Connie Swearingen- Volunteer (email)
Date: 4/22/2015 at 21:26:03

Monona County, Iowa History
1982

Mary Sherman Auffhammer, p 97

Mary Jean Sherman Auffhammer, the daughter of McNeill A. Sherman, was born October 6, 1942 in Onawa, Iowa. The first 12 years of her life were spent on the farm south of Onawa. She attended a one-room country school from kindergarten through sixth grade. Many years before attending that little school, her great-aunt, Mary McNeill, taught there. Mary Jean was named after that great-aunt.

At age 13 Mary left Onawa and moved to Newton, Iowa, to live with her mother, Marie (Berka) Sherman (later Cox). She graduated from the Newton High School in May 1960. In the fall of 1960 she attended the Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where she graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Child Development and Family Relationships with a minor in languages.

While attended college she met her husband-to-be, Edmund Harris Auffhammer III and was married in Provo, Utah in 1964. Edmund was born March 4, 1937 in New York and is the son of Edmund H. Auffhammer, Jr. and Mary Thompson both natives of New York. Five children were born of this union and are as follows: Wendy Jean born January 6, 1965; Edmund H. born December 19, 1967; Matthew McNeill born February 16, 1969; Eric Nathan born October 29, 1972; and Michael Sean born June 8, 1974.

Among the hobbies and interests of Mrs. Auffhammer are oil-painting, genealogy, and homemaking. She is an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and now resides in Alpine, Utah. Edmund is, also, an active member of the same church. He and Mrs. Auffhammer are both Sunday School teachers.

Mr. Auffhammer is a group manager over Internal Revenue Officers in Salt Lake City, Utah. His hobbies include golfing, hunting, and camping.

Mary’s grandparents on the Berka side were Frank W. and Lola F. Keith Berka, who were residents of Onawa. Frank W. Berka was born October 4, 1874 in Bohemia, Czechoslovakia and came with his parents, James (‘Wenceslaus’) and Mary (Kenisek) Berka when only nine months old in 1875. He died April 5, 1955 and is buried in the Onawa Cemetery. Lola F. Keith Berka, the daughter of Benjamin Franklin Keith and Letitia Ann Meeds, was born December 8, 1893 in Superior, Nebraska, and died January 1, 1980, in Mapleton, Iowa and is buried in the Onawa Cemetery. Frank W. Berka ran a watch repair shop in Onawa. He had two sons, Fred and Donald, who ran a lumber mill in the 1950s. His other children were Benjamin, Lola B., Dean and Lloyd.

Mr. Sherman and his daughter (and her children) are the only living descendants of the Neal McNeill family. Some of the original McNeill estate is in their possession making it 122 years of family land owenership. Submitted by Mrs. Mary Auffhammer.