Obit: Bargenquast, Evelyn E. (1916 - 2012)

Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org    

Surnames: Bargenquast, Brunner, Esselman, Jakel, Brandner, Hatwig

----Source: Marshfield News Herald (Marshfield, WI) 04/11/2012

Bargenquast, Evelyn E. (28 OCT 1916 - 8 APR 2012)

Evelyn E. Bargenquast, age 95, of Abbotsford, passed away Sunday, April 08, 2012 at the Golden Living Center Nursing Home in Abbotsford. A memorial service will be held at Christ Lutheran Church in Abbotsford on Friday, April 13, 2012 at 11:00 AM. Rev. Dr. Gary Paul will officiate. A visitation will be held from 9:30 AM until the time of service at the church. Burial will follow the service at the Abbotsford Public Cemetery. 

Evelyn Elnora Brunner was born October 28, 1916 in Milan, Wisconsin to William and Meta Brunner. She graduated from Colby High School in 1935. After graduating, she worked for a short time in a beauty shop in Colby. In less than a year she went to Milwaukee, working as a housekeeper and cook for a number of years. While doing this she graduated from cosmetology school. Evelyn then returned to the Abbotsford area where she met her husband, Ralph Bargenquast, at a dance. While he was in training for the Army, Evelyn accompanied him to Tennessee and South Carolina where she worked as a housekeeper for Army Colonels and families. Before Ralph was sent to Europe for World War II they were married in Atlanta, Georgia on March 14, 1943. Evelyn returned to the Abbotsford area to open her own beauty shop which she operated for 42 years. 

Evelyn and her husband had such a wonderful life. They loved to camp and fish at their cottage in northern Wisconsin. They were extreme Polka addicts and attended nearly every dance and festival and were crowned King and Queen of the P.O.L.K.A. Club of America for a couple years. They also loved to travel, touring most of the European countries and Japan. In their later years, they spent the winter months in Mission, Texas.

Evelyn was a fantastic cook and baker. She loved people and was an especially good story teller, which will be forever in our minds and hearts. Her grandchildren and great-grandchildren meant the world to her and they enjoyed many good times with her.

She was a member of Christ Lutheran Church and Ladies Aid (Priscilla Guild) in Abbotsford.

Evelyn is survived by her daughter, Dianne (Ray) Esselman, her grandchildren: Rhonda (Tom) Jakel, Chris Esselman, and Lindsey (Chris) Brandner; her great grandchildren, Jessie and Josie Jakel, and her sister Delores Hartwig.

Evelyn is preceded in death by her parents, William and Meta Brunner, her husband, Ralph, and her brother, Wilfred Brunner, and 

The Maurina Schilling Funeral Home in Abbotsford is assisting the family with arrangements.