Virgil Adolph Brenden

 

Virgil Adolph Brenden was born 08 June, 1924 on the home farm in the Town of Coon, Westby (Vernon County) Wisconsin. He was the fifth of seven children born to Adolph Simon and Mathea (Solberg) Brenden. He attended Von Ruden School and graduated from Westby High School in 1941.

Virgil enrolled in La Crosse (WI) Teachers College) in 1941.  On 15 March, 1943, Virgil enlisted in the United States Army. After basic training, he received specialized training in dental services at City University of New York.  Virgil served in the United States Army for three years, including six months in the Philippine Islands.  He was released from military duty on 15 March, 1946, attaining the rank of sergeant.

Following his release from the Army, Virgil enrolled in the Marquette University School of Dentistry and graduated in 1950. He returned to Westby and opened his dental practice on August 14, 1950. Together with his good friends, Drs. P.T. Bland and Warren Otterson, Virgil built the Westby Clinic in 1961 and practiced dentistry there until his retirement in 1989.

Virgil loved the home farm. When he returned to Westby in 1950, he lived with his father Adolph, brother (Arthur) Stanley, and sister, Clarice and her children on the family farm next to Vang Church. Virgil purchased a house on Central Court in Westby on 15 March, 1960 and lived there with his sister Clarice and her children until his death.

In 1968, he purchased the home farm with his sisters, Clarice and Alverda. Together, they formed the Norse Haven Farm Partnership in 1990. Virgil loved to work with the young farm families who rented the farm and spent every week-end there, riding his four-wheeler, tending the garden, mowing the lawn, and caring for his beloved Holstein cattle.

Virgil is remembered as a kind and generous man with a wonderful sense of humor. He was devoted to his family, slow to anger, and quick to laugh. His patients, his friends, and his family looked to him as a man of integrity, honesty, and humility.  His legacy continues.

(Arthur) Stanley Brenden

(Arthur) Stanley Brenden was born 11 May, 1922 on the home farm near Westby, Wisconsin.  He was the fifth of seven children born to Adolph Simon and Mathea (Solberg) Brenden.  He attended Von Ruden School and graduated from the 8th grade on 01 May, 1936. 

Stan farmed the home farm with his father, Adolph for most of his adult life. Stanley remained on the farm during the war years. In 1968, he moved to Viroqua (Vernon County) WI. where he was employed at Vernon Manor Nursing Home in Viroqua. He retired in 1983. (Arthur) Stanley never married. 

Stanley was full of fun and loved to laugh. The joy in his hearty belly laugh was infectious. He loved to give tractor rides (and cow rides) to his nieces and nephews and entertained them with all sorts of foolishness. He was an excellent mechanic. He loved Coney Island hot dogs!

Stanley enjoyed visiting his sisters, Alma and Clarice. Their excellent cooking, delicious coffee, and friendly conversation supported him physically and emotionally. They did his laundry and purchased new clothes for him when he needed them. Their love for him was unconditional. 

Stan was an alcoholic. He enrolled in treatment several times, with the support and encouragement of his family. He was a good and decent man who lived his life with a demon. In spite of that, he was a friend to all and loved by many. 

Stanley died with his dog during a fire at his home. He is buried in the family plot with grandparents, his father and mother, and brother, Alvin at the Coon Valley Cemetery, Coon Valley (Vernon County), Wisconsin.

Alverda Sophia Brenden Riese

Alverda Sophia Brenden was born 24 August, 1920 on the family farm in the Town of Coon, Vernon County, Wisconsin. She was the fourth of seven children born to Adolph Simon and Mathea (Solberg) Brenden. She attended Von Ruden School and graduated from Westby High School in 1938.

Alverda remained on the home farm until 1941, caring for her father and brothers. She moved to Janesville, (Rock County) Wisconsin with her cousin and “forever friend”, Cleonore Holte Johns Maurer. Alverda met her husband, Boyd Albert Riese, at a dance at the Eagles Club in Janesville after he returned from service at the end of World War II. They were married 21 December, 1946 and moved to Milwaukee Wisconsin.

Alverda often talked about the time she spent with her brother, Virgil, while he was in dental school at Marquette. She enjoyed making meals for him and took care of his laundry. For Alverda, the years on West Wells Street in Milwaukee with her new husband and her youngest brother were a happy time. Boyd and Alverda’s only child, Leslie Ann, was born 28 July, 1948 in Milwaukee.

Alverda’s husband died 28 October, 1949, the result of  three years as a POW in Japan.  He was 28 years old. She returned to Janesville (Rock County) Wisconsin and began her long employment with the Parker Pen Company. She worked in data processing and prepared the monthly and year-end financial statements for George Parker, company president. It was exacting and fulfilling work for Alverda. At Parker Pen, she found a “second family” and cherished the people she worked with. She retired in 1985.

In retirement, Alverda enjoyed her flowers, her birds, tending to her immaculate yard, and cooking for family and friends. In all ways, she was a “caregiver.” Most of all, she cherished time spent with her her family, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, her nieces and nephews, her neighbors, and her friends. She visited Westby often to be with her sisters and brothers, and was always ready to help them when they needed her. Virgil, Cousin Cleo, and “the three sisters” made several winter trips to Las Vegas. They were at every family baptism, confirmation, graduation, and wedding. When Virgil could no longer travel, they made trips to the casino in Black River Falls. Together, they laughed, cried, and supported each other without compromise.

Alverda’s life was filled with challenges; emotional, medical, physical, and financial. In the face of every adversity, she remained loving and positive. She was a strong woman with strong opinions. She was generous to a fault, quick to forgive, and always thankful for all that life had to offer. Her deep, quiet faith sustained her. At the end of her life, she said “I have been so blessed!”

On June 06, 2011, she passed away in her home with the picture of her beloved great-grandchildren beside her. They were the light of her life. She is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Janesville (Rock County), Wisconsin, next to her husband, Boyd Albert Riese.

Alma Mathilda Brenden Appleman

 

Alma Matilda Brenden was born January 28, 1919 at Norse Haven Farm near Westby, Wisconsin.  She was the third of seven children born to Adolph Simon and Mathea (Solberg) Brenden.  She graduated from 8th grade on June 9, 1933.  Only two of her siblings graduated high school because the older siblings were needed to help on the farm.

On January 28, 1939, Alma married Jim William Appleman in Waukon, Iowa.  They lived with Jim’s mother and father, Charlie and Belle Appleman for about ten years.  In 1948, Jim and Alma built their own home on acreage in the Town of Clinton.  Alma remained the matriarch of her family after Jim’s death in 1988, and continued to reside in their home until moving to Halvorsen Apartments in Westby, and resided there until her death on November 28, 2008. 

Her early years were marked with profound loss, losing her mother, grandmother, and infant sister in a three week period.  This loss was compounded when her youngest brother, Virgil, was sent to live with Grandma Solberg because there was no one to care for him.  She also lost her oldest brother, Alvin, in a car accident when he was in his early 20’s. 

Alma had a very close and loving relationship with her sisters Clarice (Kitty) and Alverda (Ducky) because of the challenges they faced as young sisters.  They were not only sisters, but very best friends.  Their devotion to each other was transferred to the love of their family-especially their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. One of the highlights of their relationship was the annual lefse making at holiday time.  Alma was the lefse roller, Clarice was the baker, and Alverda kept the dishes washed and provided moral support. 

Alma loved to iron.  After the death of her mother when she was seven years old, her Aunt Emma would iron Alma's blouses. Alma would leave them hanging in her closet and not wear them because she knew it would be long time before they were ironed again. She loved cooking favorite foods for her grandchildren. Among the favorites were jello with bananas, buckeyes, fried bread, cinnamon rolls, grasshoppers (at Christmas) and her famous shakes.  

Her love of family transcended to 4-legged animals; the animals she cared for on the farm.  It was not unusual for her to nurse animals back to health in her house.  She had a great love for birds; especially the wren.  She always kept her bird feeders full of food for her feathered friends. 

One of her great joys was traveling with Jim to the auctioneer conventions, which were in different states each year.  She loved to travel for family events-graduations, weddings, baptisms, and confirmations.  In later years, she and her sisters loved going to the casino with family members, and on bus trips. 

Her life was filled with many hardships, but she accepted the things she could not change, and changed the things she could.  She is buried with her husband, Jim William Appleman, in the Sugar Grove Church Cemetery, Cashton (Vernon County) Wisconsin.  Blessed be her memory.