vonBerg, Mrs. Charles (George) 1881-1974

VONBERG, MCMANUS

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, volunteer (email)
Date: 3/2/2011 at 12:14:27

DEATH OF MRS. GEORGE VON BERG ENDS ERA OF EARLY DAY BIKE RACES, MUSICALS AND PARTIES

Mrs. George E. von Berg, 93, widely known LeMars woman, died Thursday (Nov. 21, 1974) at Floyd Valley hospital following an extended illness.

She had made her home in the extended care unit at the hospital since Oct. 12, 1968.

A requiem Holy Communion service will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Monday, Nov. 25, at St. George’s Episcopal church where Mrs. von Berg was a longtime and active member before her hospitalization.

Rev. Gary J. Frahm, Sioux City, will officiate. Burial will be later at Howe, Ind., in the family plot.

Friends may call at the Luedtke funeral home after 7 p.m. Sunday.

Mrs. von Berg and her late husband, Charles L. von Berg in the early days of LeMars were well known in music, sports and civic circles.

Following Mr. von Berg’s death Dec. 30, 1939, in LeMars, Mrs. von Berg and her mother, Mrs. Mary McManus, became celebrated throughout this area as Mrs. McManus advanced in age until the latter’s death at the age of 102 on June 30, 1955. Mrs. McManus was the oldest resident in LeMars and Plymouth County.

Mrs. von Berg and her mother shared the community spotlight April 19, 1953, when Mrs. McManus was feted by LeMars on her 100th birthday at luncheons, teas and parties throughout the city.

With her daughter’s able care, Mrs. McManus lived an active social and civic life until just before her death, attending concerts, meetings, club functions, sporting events and theaters. Wherever Mrs. von Berg and Mrs. McManus appeared they were called upon to speak or were introduced.

George Elliott McManus was born June 21, 1881, in Allen County, Ind., the daughter of Silas B. and Mary M. Hillegass McManus. When George was three years old the family moved to a country home near Howe, Ind. Mrs. von Berg was the couple’s only child.

Her father Silas B. McManus had served as editor of the Fort Wayne and late Elkhart, Ind., newspapers. The family lived in Indianapolis from 1891 to 1893, when Mr. McManus was a state senator.

George McManus and Charles von Berg were married Nov. 4, 1903, at Howe, Ind., and the couple moved to LeMars.

A native of McGregor, Iowa, Mr. von Berg was a member of a pioneer Plymouth County family. He was a child of three when his parents homesteaded near LeMars.

The von Bergs also embarked on their own homesteading adventures in Nebraska and the Dakotas, but for the most part resided in LeMars.

Following the death of Mrs. von Berg’s father in 1917, the couple was joined here by Mrs. McManus.

Mrs. von Berg was an excellent harpist and her husband played the violin. Both were in demand for entertainments and orchestras throughout the territory.

In addition, they were drivers for auto races and competed in target pistol contests.

In his later life, Mr. von Berg was a goalie on the LeMars hockey team at the age of 70 and won his Red Cross senior life saving medal at the age of 61. Mr. and Mrs. von Berg and her mother all three excelled in many activities in their later years.

Mr. von Berg also had taught school in Plymouth and Sioux counties and was employed in LeMars by the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha railroad company.

Mr. and Mrs. von Berg repaired typewriters and musical instruments in their later years.

Mrs. von Berg was an active member of the LeMars Sunshine Club, W.C.T. U., LeMars Friday Club and Sioux City Humane society. For many years she was a member of St. George’s Episcopal church choir.

Because Mr. and Mrs. von Berg and Mrs. McManus led such active lives with such a wide variety of interests and activities, they counted among their huge circle of friends many of the great and near great of their time.

Mrs. McManus had come from the gracious background of another era in Indiana, when residents drove miles in their buggies to see the McManus estate with its fountains and white brick home. Special trains for wedding guests left Fort Wayne for the McManus wedding on the Hillegass estate which crossed by two railroad lines.

Silas McManus was known as LaGrange county’s most famous poet.

In her last years of failing health, Mrs. von Berg’s numerous activities declined gradually after the death of her mother. She would recall how her husband Charlie had won the Iowa championship bicycle race in 1890 and was prominent in auto racing during the next decade.

Her last years at the hospital were devoted to assisting in any way that she was able to keep up the lively interest of others on the extended care second floor at the hospital.

Only survivors are cousins in Emmetsburg and Indiana and a niece in Des Moines.

~Source: LeMars Daily Sentinel, November 1974

Mr. & Mrs. Charles L. vonBerg Photo Page
 

Plymouth Obituaries maintained by Linda Ziemann.
WebBBS 4.33 Genealogy Modification Package by WebJourneymen