Lila JoAnn Berge

Service Details

A memorial service for Lila will be held when conditions and regulations permit.

Memorial Suggestions

In lieu of flowers, memorials in her name might be given to the Southeast Gateway Group of the Sierra Club or Mt. Pleasant Lutheran Church.

RACINE – Lila JoAnn Berge (nee Greenfield) died in her sleep shortly before noon on April 29, at home, surrounded by her immediate family. She had fought a seventeen-year off-and-on battle with cancer and Alzheimer disease.

Lila was born December 14, 1932 in St.Ann’s Hospital, LaCrosse, WI, to Bert L. and Myrtle M. (nee Schlaak) Greenfield, the youngest of two daughters. She spent her early years in Viroqua, WI, but due to her father’s professional career, she attended four different high schools: Viroqua, WI, Forest Grove, OR, Tillamook, OR, and graduating from Oostburg, WI. During WWII she, her sister and mother would spend the summer at a rustic cabin in far northern Wisconsin, fishing, boating and berry picking.

She attended the University of Wisconsin – Madison, earning a degree in Home Economics Education. There she met her future husband, John W. Berge, through canoeing with the Hoofers Club. They continued to canoe together for at least the next 50 years. After graduation, she taught one year at the High School in Whitewater and then worked at the State Hygiene and Forest Products Laboratories to help support her husband through graduate school. They would have celebrated their 64th Wedding Anniversary this June.

Lila and John moved to Wilmington, Delaware, in 1959 where their three children were born: Paul Berge, Toni (Joan) Zavadil, and Eric Berge. All moved back to Wisconsin in 1963, settling in Racine when John took a position with S. C. Johnson & Son.

Lila was an active member of Holy Communion Lutheran Church, singing in the choir and directing the youth group and the Senior Citizen Center for 12 years, and of Mt. Pleasant Lutheran Church where she again sang in the choir and was very active with the quilting group for years. She also was a charter member of the Southeast Gateway Group of the Sierra Club, a former Group Chair, historian, committee member and activist in conservation and outing activities. She was awarded the Samuel C. Johnson Environmental Stewardship Award in1992.

Lila loved to travel, usually with groups, visiting more than 45 countries and most of the United States. She also loved to sew, garden, read and write poetry. Once again, she had a cabin to spend solitary time and entertain friends, this time in the far southwest corner of the state, selling it only when the drive back and forth became too tiring.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her older sister, Priscilla “Percy” (Dr. Robert) Harrington of California; her parents in-law A. John and Dorothy Berge of Madison, WI; her favorite uncle, Ottmer “Otto” Schlaak and numerous other older relatives. She is survived by her husband, John W. Berge; their three children, Paul Berge (Christopher Pierangeli) of Sturtevant, WI, Toni Zavadil of Gainesville, GA; Eric Berge of Flowery Branch, GA; her only grandson, Curtis R. (Leah) Zavadil of Bethlehem, GA; and twelve nieces and nephews with their spouses and offspring.

The family wishes to express their most sincere thanks to Dr. Michael Mullane, his staff and the nurses and staff of the Aurora In-home Hospice Care for their wonderful services, concern and support. A memorial service for Lila will be held when conditions and regulations permit. In lieu of flowers, memorials in her name might be given to the Southeast Gateway Group of the Sierra Club or Mt. Pleasant Lutheran Church.