The Funeral Service for Luella

MaryAnn &8220;Lou&8221; Bergen will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 23, 2005, at St. Theodore Catholic Church. The Rev. Jim Berning and Deacon Mike Ellis will officiate. Interment will be in St. Theodore Catholic Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. on Thursday at Bonnerup Funeral Service, Albert Lea, and one hour before the service at the church.

There will be a prayer service at 7 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home.

Lou was born on Oct. 29, 1916, in Bancroft, Iowa, the daughter of John Matthew and Helen Rose (Sanftner) Boyer.

As a young girl her family moved to New Richland where she attended school and then at the age of 16 began working at Land O’ Lakes in Albert Lea. She eventually obtained her G.E.D. and also went to Minneapolis to attend Beauty School. Following her training Lou was a licensed beautician in Blooming Prairie and then at Wallace’s in Albert

Lea.

In the early days of WWII, Lou and her older sister Dorothy went to Los Angeles where they worked at an aircraft factory. She returned to Albert Lea in 1943 and saw her husband to be, Robert J. Bergen, while he was on leave from the service. She continued working as a beautician in Albert Lea and then for a time in Los Angeles until the war

ended.

She was united in marriage to Robert J. Bergen on June 4, 1947, at St. Theodore Catholic Church. They lived in Albert Lea, Omaha, Neb., and Cherokee, Iowa, over the next 21 years. In June of 1968, Robert died. In 1970, Lou returned to Albert Lea with her children Robert, James, Mark, Charles, Margaret, Catherine, and Patricia. She purchased a home on Southview Lane where she lived for the next 35 years. She worked with the kitchen crew at Southwest Jr. High, and did beautician work and sewing on the side. Lou was a very accomplished seamstress and her grandchildren were gifted with dresses, shirts, Halloween costumes and other clothing articles, all made with love.

Lou also enjoyed reading, baking and cooking, word search puzzles, and pretending she liked football just to spend time with her family.

Her 75th birthday was highlighted by a &8220;dream&8221; trip to Prince Edward Island in Canada to see sites associated with Anne of Green Gables novels.

She was a member of St. Theodore Catholic Church.

Lou died at her home, surrounded by the love of her family on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2005.

She was 89.

Lou is survived by seven children: Robert M. Bergen and his wife Maryanne of Warren, Mich.; James F. Bergen of Albert Lea; Mark J. Bergen of Lilydale, Minn.; Charles S. Bergen and his wife Kim of Apple Valley; Margaret M. (Peggy) Laraway and her husband Steve of St. Cloud; Catherine A. Bergen of Apple Valley; Patricia M. Bergen of Apple Valley. Grandchildren: Robert J. Bergen of Warren, Mich.; Tara B., Ryan C., Timothy J. and Kellene M. Bergen all of Apple Valley; Anne C., Stephanie M.,

Michael S., and Amy E. Laraway all of St. Cloud; sister Margery Bice of Albert Lea, brothers Charles Boyer and wife Ellen Mae, Walter Boyer and his wife Rose, William Boyer and wife Ramona, Lyle Boyer and wife Jeannie all of

Albert Lea; Francis Boyer and his wife Margaret of Jackson, Minn.; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, brothers: John, Richard, and Art Boyer, sisters: Dorothy Boyer and Anna Petersen.

Memorials suggested to Crossroads Community Hospice.