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Here are some fun facts about Leone Lamers, your friend/mother/aunt/gramma:
- Fred and Alice Berg had a daughter in Edgar, Wisconsin, on Feb. 19, 1915 and named her Leone Mary Berg. She had 3 brothers and 5 sisters.
- Her father later bought the Berg’s Dry Cleaning Plant in Kaukauna, Wisconsin. She went to High School but had to quit when she was a Sophomore to work in the plant with her sisters.
- She had a love of books and dreamed of becoming a writer. She also loved to swim and read.
- She met Art when he was dating her sister Irene – and they married in 1936. They had a wedding mass and a meal after which the family all went home and changed back into their work clothes and returned to work in the afternoon.
- Leone and Art owned and worked in a grocery store in Kaukauna. In 1937 Dad had to move to Detroit, Michigan to work in a Defense Plant so mom stayed behind to sell the store and then moved to Detroit to join him.
- They purchased a brick home on Greensboro Street in Detroit where Ken was born in 1938 and Dan in 1941. They lived there until 1943 when Dad developed a bad case of asthma and had to return to Wisconsin.
- They then lived in Grandpa and Grandma Berg’s Air Stream Trailer in Northside Park in Kaukauna until they were able to move into a rented house on 6th. Street in Kaukauna.
- In 1945 Dave was born and in 1946 they bought the house they lived in for 63 (+ or -) years on Taft Street in Kaukauna.
- Chip was born in 1948, Paul in 1950 and Barb in 1951.
- Mom loved chocolate, sweets and lobster. She also loved to play golf and listen to Dad sing Barbershop with his quartet and chorus. Dad and she enjoyed socializing with the quartet and their wives for many years after Dad left the chorus. She, herself never sang though her father played many instruments and in his later years she and Dad would take Grandpa in his Air Stream Trailer to camp and play with his small band. Later when he could no longer manage the trailer they would take him wherever the band was playing and sit all night and listen to the music and then take him home.
- She worked at Quinny School in Kaukauna in the Food Service section when the kids had left home. She also played cards with “Linger Longer,” a group of women
- in the neighborhood. She joined many craft classes and enjoyed various types of needle work, stitchery, knitting and sewing. She also picked up several women who didn’t drive so they were able to get out of the house and go to classes and church events.
- She enjoyed working with the Hmong people – teaching them for many years how to speak, write and read English. She remained friends with many of these families many years after she had worked with them.
- She was a wonderful cook, often trying new recipes, but never thought of herself as being good at that.
What other facts, stories, memories or thoughts can you add here? Put them in the comments!