Servcies for Loveon Ruth Henke (McKay)
Loveon Ruth Henke (McKay)
1/1/34 - 7/22/21
On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero. Sigmund Freud said “The goal of all life is death”. Looks like I have reached my goal. There were other goals I wanted to reach first, but there is no sense in crying over missed bowling pins. I actually had my picture on the first page of the Wisconsin State Journal when I was born. I was the first baby born in Madison in 1934. Quite an honor but I can’t remember it.
We all have goals in life but this is not one of them. And we have no more power to stop it than we do tornadoes in Kansas. I remember starting kindergarten at 4 in Madison. The cut off date was January 1st so I just made it. I am sure my mother was happy to enroll me as she had 2 more boys at home. I had 2 older brothers and a sister at school already.
It was an act of faith when we moved to Clearbrook in 1975, buying the Hartz Store from the Everharts. We didn’t know one person in the area. Our oldest son Gary was in the Marine Corps and daughter Suzy had moved to Milwaukee to sell advertising for a radio station. So we had our ‘second’ family, Mike who was 11 and Jennifer was 9. Their first day of school was Halloween and Principal Olga Petterson welcomed them warmly. We knew nothing about running a grocery store but then Al introduced us to Anne Bergh. She taught us everything we needed to run a grocery store, and with the loyalty and hard work of Lonnie English, we had a long successful run. The town supported us even though we were German Methodists, not exactly the nationality or religion of everyone around.
Living in Wisconsin for many years I was a Green Bay Packer fan. It was different up here seeing the purple and yellow instead of green and gold, and we had fun with it, as anyone who came into Hartz Store over the years knew.
Our mother, Loveon, wrote the above obituary. Being quite independent and efficient, she wanted to be sure all the details of her end of life were taken care of. What we found incredible was after our dad died, she ran Hartz Store for 5 more years, a seven day a week job. Then, after she sold to Kevin Berg, she still worked part time at the store. Her passions besides the Green Bay Packers included bowling where she bowled an incredible 245, and country music, especially Conway Twitty. She died peacefully in her sleep and we will miss her. Loveon was preceded in death by her husband Milton, and is survived by four children, Gary (Dale Goth), Madison, WI, Suzanne (Jim) Werley, Chicago, IL, Michael (Michele) Henke, Grand Island, NE and Jennifer (David) Aakre, Solway, and grandchildren Jessica, Alice, Amanda, DJ, Kenny, Kaija and Annikka.
Funeral services will be 1:00 p.m. Saturday, August 7th at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Pastor Bob Kirchman presiding, with a visitation one hour prior. In lieu of flowers please make a donation to Clearwater County Hospice or a garden club, or plant some flowers to enjoy yourself.
Messages of condolence may be sent to ceasefuneralhome.com
