Alberta P. (Moellering) CHURCHILL

MOELLERING, CHURCHILL, TRASK, EMERY, RATHWEG, MORBILLO, RUSSELL, KUECKER, CAMERON

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 10/25/2006 at 09:40:43

Alberta "Berta" P. Churchill, 64, of 2515 Crestview Dr., Appleton, Wis., died Friday afternoon, Aug. 4, 2000, following a six-year struggle with cancer. She was born Dec. 6, 1935, to the late Albert E. and Marion Trask Moellering in Eagle Grove, Iowa, and had been an Appleton resident since 1973. She was a caring, compassionate and passionate person. She considered every person important and nobody was above or beneath her regard. She had a zest for living life to the fullest and loved creating .. whether with a sewing machine, seeds and a trowel, a paintbrush, or a pen and paper. She encouraged everyone to be and achieve what they desired and did it all with humility, humor and love. When she walked into a room and smiled everyone felt better. She will be missed by all. Berta directed her love to the community by direct involvement in a number of activities. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1957 from Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, and her Master of Science degree in counseling education in 1987 from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Berta was a county home economist in Dallas County, Iowa. She organized women's groups and 4-H clubs, trained leaders, presented programs, directed camps and helped start the Des Moines Art Center's traveling art exhibit for rural areas. Berta was budget counselor with Financial Information and Service Center, where she counseled couples and individuals on assessing lifestyles, attitudes and spending habits in order to develop a holistic approach to budgeting and remedying financial problems; she was also a board member for FISC. Berta helped found and organize many training, assistance and friendship programs for and with the Hmong peoples in the Appleton community. She was co-counselor in group counseling sessions of men arrested for domestic abuse; she also conducted individual and group counseling for the Outagamie County Domestic Abuse Program, where she led support groups for battered women and functioned as a hotline volunteer and provided other support services. Berta counseled developmentally disabled clients at Sheltered Activity Centers, aided assessment and work activities and initiated and taught classes for handicapped and other women in city recreation programs in Dayton, Ohio. Berta taught poetry writing skills to children at elementary schools in Wisconsin and Ohio and at the Appleton Public Library. She taught sewing classes for adult night school in Kettering, Ohio, for handicapped women in a Dayton, Ohio, recreation program, and for the Dayton YWCA inner city youth. Berta initiated and taught home skill classes to female inmates at the Dayton, Ohio, Correction Farm. She was very active in the promotion of the new Appleton Public Library and served on the library board. Berta believed in active participation in politics; she was chairperson of the Outagamie County Republican Party, serving from 1987-1989; a member of the State Republican Executive Committee and ran for the State Assembly in 1984. Berta also worked for the Housing Partnership. She was a member of First Congregational United Church of Christ, League of Women Voters, Outagamie County Public Defender's Board, Fox River Valley Water Quality Advisory Board, Fox Valley Pastoral Counseling Board of Directors, Advisory Board for Colony Oaks Care Center, Governor's Council on Domestic Abuse, PEO and AAUW.

Berta is survived by her husband, Donald Churchill, to whom she had been married for 42 years; three daughters and their spouses, Teresa and John Emery, Fond du Lac, Wis.; Robyn and Christopher Rathweg, Lafayette, Colo., and Linda and Frank Morbillo, Tesuque, N.M.; five grandchildren, David, Kathryn and Elizabeth Emery, Alani and Maxwell Rathweg; and three sisters and two brothers-in- law, Dorothy and Everett Russell, Mechanicsville, Iowa; Hope and Willis Kuecker, Eagle Grove, Iowa, and Judith Cameron, Eagar, Ariz. Memorial services for Alberta will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 13, 2000, in First Congregational United Church of Christ, 724 East South River St., Appleton, Wis., with the Rev. Jane Weeden officiating. Friends will be received at the church on Sunday from noon until the time of the memorial service. The Berta Churchill Memorial Fund has been established.

Gazette, The (Cedar Rapids-Iowa City, IA)
August 11, 2000

Alberta P. Churchill
Appleton Age 64, passed away at Appleton Medical Center on Friday afternoon. Funeral arrangements are incomplete and pending. WICHMANN FUNERAL HOME 537 North Superior Street Appleton.

Post-Crescent, The (Appleton, WI)
August 5, 2000