Elsie Berg

A memorial service for Elsie Berg was held at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday July 18, 2024 at Stoddard Funeral Home in Greeley, CO. Burial was on Friday July 19, 2024, in the Olinger Chapel Hill Cemetery in Centennial, CO. Stoddard Funeral & Cremation & Sunset Memorial Gardens were in charge of arrangements. Elsie was born on May 31, 1920 in Carter, SD, and was the fourth oldest of ten children born to John and Lydia Burr. She was born to an immigrant father who came to America from Russia. Elsie grew up on a farm in Burke, SD, and lived in a sod house. Being raised on a farm, before the invention of sliced bread (invented 1928), Elsie learned to be a hard worker. Summers were spent in the fields weeding, and the falls were spent harvesting. Elsie was always found helping the family out. When Elsie wasn’t working in the fields she was working in the kitchen, or taking care of her siblings. Additional duties included ironing clothes, fixing meals, and cleaning the house.

Elsie loved sharing her memories with her family. She often spoke of waking up to the sound of her dad going down to light the pot belly stove on cold winter mornings. These memories were further highlighted by the frost that would be on her comforter in the room that she shared with her four sisters. She was known for her skill in writing papers at school; however, she only went until the ninth grade. At this time she would have had to move into town to finish her schooling, and she could not bring herself to leave her family. Elsie often reminisced about going into town to the fair with her family. Her dad would give her ten cents to spend, and she felt like she was on top of the world. Elsie would go to the dance hall with Frank, an old friend the family had known for years. They would often dance until the hall closed.

After a while, Frank moved away to California. When he came back to visit he went out to Elsie’s house and told her “I’m leaving tomorrow to head back to California, and I’ll be here to pick you up to come back with me”. She responded with “over my dead body!” As the next morning came around, Elsie was packed up and ready to leave. She had said goodbye to her family, and her mother had given her 100 dollars to take with her. When Elsie and Frank got to California he told her to give him two weeks, and if she did not love him by the end he would buy her a train ticket back to South Dakota. The two did end up falling in love, and they built a beautiful family together.

Elsie passed away at the age of 104 years old, in Greeley, CO. She is survived by two daughters, Beverly Gonser and Sharon Ragsdale; and son Bradley Berg; granddaughters Tammy and Terri Herrera; grandsons Wayne and Frank Ragsdale, and Tyler, Brayden, and Codey Berg; as well as great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren; numerous nieces and nephews; and sister Sally Wilkinson of South Dakota.