Lawrence "Bill" Berg

On May 23, 3 weeks and 4 days after being hospitalized for acute pancreatitis, Bill Berg passed away and joined Jesus and our mom in heaven.

Bill was born December 15, 1933 in Jamestown, NY.  His family moved to San Diego when he was very little.  He lived an adventurous, curious and happy childhood there.  There was plenty of wild open space for him to investigate, hike around and learn respect for God’s creation.

In high school, the family moved to Denver, Colorado where he met Shirley, they got married, he went to serve in Korea, then he moved home and begin a family.  His family lived in the city and had, at different times, chickens, ducks, geese, injured birds being rehabilitated, a sheep (long story) and a few dogs.  You can’t take the country out of the boy.

Bill’s  two main “occupations” were being a pattern maker (wood patterns made for making molds to cast iron and steel) and a master gardener.

Besides making patterns in his official job, he also had contracts to do some very creative things.  He designed and made the pattern for the street signs in Aspen, Colorado, he made patterns for parts of the gears for the cable cars in San Francisco, the gas pump handle for the Home Run Pump at the Minute Maid Stadium in Houston, to name a few.

His garden was epic.  If Bill heard that something couldn’t grow in Colorado, he had to try.  His bountiful harvest each year was shared with so many people, and in his later years, it almost all went to the food bank at our church, because he knew how important it was for them to get fresh vegetables.

He was very involved in his church, Immanuel Baptist, he was a deacon, worked in the nursery a lot, was a leader with the Boy’s Brigade (like Boy Scouts), took kids camping, and skiing, and was generally always there to help with anything.  Really, ANYthing.  Day or night.  He and his wife moved to Mission Hills Church in Littleton a few years ago.

Some of the family’s  fondest memories were of summer vacations.  Three weeks every summer they packed up and headed up to Minnesota to spend time on the lake with 2 of their favorite families.  They played in the lake, water skied, caught fish, and then it was up to the Boundary Waters, to go canoeing, camping, fishing and having the best time ever.

As time went on, Shirley started to fail, physically mostly, but also forgetful.  Bill was dedicated to her and took care of her tirelessly.  When she was in a rehab hospital for many months, he visited her every day, went home for lunch, and came back for the rest of the day.  The day finally came to sell their house, and his amazing garden, and move to Morningstar Independent Living Center in Lone Tree.  It was a hard move for Bill, but they adapted quickly and he quickly became Mr. Morningstar.  He couldn’t talk enough about how they loved it.  Three years ago his wife  passed away, but Bill wouldn’t leave there, he just moved down the hall to a smaller unit.  He really didn’t want to be anywhere else.  He and mom had developed a devoted habit of going to the movie every night, and up until the end, that was his daily highlight.  It was in fact the last thing he did at Morningstar.

Just a month ago, he was active, but using a walker and couldn’t hear well, but today he is with our mom, hearing  Jesus saying, very clearly, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Bill is survived by his daughters, Karen (Ted) Palen, Kristin Berg, 3 grandchildren, Eric and Nicolle and Annika (Briggham) Headrick, also 3 great-grandchildren, Avery Palen, Olive Palen and Cash Headrick.

Bills celebration of life will be Wednesday June 15, 2:30pm, at Mission Hills Church, 620 Southpark Dr., Littleton, CO 80120.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts can be made to MOPS International, Global fund.  All gifts in Bill Berg’s name will be designated for the Guatemala fund. http://www.mops.org/donate/