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Dale James Ashcraft, Verna L. Burrows, Betty M. Leichtle, Sheldon A. Quist, Gerald R. Westpfahl

Dale James Ashcraft

Dale James Ashcraft, 36, of Tomah, died Monday, Nov. 23, 2009 while in St. Mary’s Hospital, Rochester, MN. He was born to Wanda (Brookman) Ashcraft and Jim Ashcraft on June 18, 1973, while his father was stationed in Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Dale graduated high school in Grafton, West Virginia. He attended college in Charleston, West Virginia, and also at Western Wisconsin Technical College in La Crosse. He was an avid fisherman, he loved computers, cooking and family activities. He worked at a variety of jobs including customer service at Apac in LaCrosse. He also worked at Ocean Spray in Tomah; delivered pizzas for the Uptown Pizza and was a night stocker for Wal-Mart. His current plans were to further his education by taking courses through WWTC before his heart required attention.

Dale was a loving son, brother, brother-in-law, and uncle. He was a friend to all he came in contact with. He will be sadly missed by all those that knew and loved him.

He is survived by his parents Jim and Wanda; a brother, Bradley and Mollie Ashcraft; 2 nephews, Austin and Dalton Jewell all of Tomah; numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. He was preceded in death by his maternal grandparents, Merel and Garnet Brookman, paternal grandparents, Garlen and Willa Ashcraft; an uncle Joe Ashcraft; cousins, David and Stacey Marten along with cousins Bobby Miller; Darlene Monee and Guy Anthony Powell .

A funeral service was held on Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009, 2 p.m. at the Sonnenburg Family Funeral Home, 801 E. Monowau Street, Tomah. Pastor Phillip M. Enderle will officiate. Burial will be in the Oak Grove Cemetery.

Relatives and friends are invited to call on Saturday at the funeral home from 12 noon until the time of the service.

Verna L. Burrows

Verna L. Burrows, of Holmen and formerly of Oakdale, passed away peacefully at Gundersen Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse on Nov. 25, 2009, at the age of 88. Verna was born June 14, 1921, in Warrens, to Riley and Eva (Vroman) Hart. She was united in marriage to Vilas “Pat” Burrows in April of 1941.

She is survived by a daughter Patricia (Jon) Schuster; a son, Robert “Skip” (Julie Allshouse) Burrows; six grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild; six sisters, Arja, Donna, Rita, Patty, Betty and Beverly; two brothers Kenny and Ronnie; as well as many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband Pat in 1977; her daughter Judy, February 9, 1943; six sister, Bernice, Anna, Carol, Arlieta, Bonnie and June; and her brother, David.

A funeral service will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009, 1 p.m. at the Sonnenburg Family Funeral Home, 801 E. Monowau Street, Tomah. The Very Reverend Steven J. Kachel will officiate. Burial will be in St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, Tomah.

Relatives and friends are invited to call on Tuesday at the funeral home from 11 a.m. until the services.

Memorials in memory of Verna may be given to St. Mary’s Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, 302 W. Monroe Street, Tomah.

“My Life Was Happy Til The End, With My Wonderful Kids,

Relatives and Friends.

So, I’ll Say Goodbye Today But Not Forever,

As Someday God Will Join Us All In Heaven”

Betty M. Leichtle

Betty M. Leichtle, 84, of Tomah died Monday, November 23, 2009, at the Tomah Health Care Center. She was born December 9, 1924, to William and Elise (Henning) Merkel in Sheboygan, WI. She moved to Milwaukee and went to work for Globe Union. She was united in marriage to Kenneth R. Leichtle on August 19, 1950. She was a faithful member of St. Paul Ev. Lutheran Church.

She is survived by her loving husband Kenneth of Tomah; two sisters, Shirley Leer of Tomah, and Pearl Savinski of Mukwonago; a brother, Roger Merkel of Wauwatosa, many nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews, other relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents; two sisters, Aurelia and Rosella; four brothers, Wilbert, Raymond, Robert, and William; sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law.

A funeral service was held on Friday, Nov. 27, 2009, 11:30 a.m. at the Sonnenburg Family Funeral Home, 801 E. Monowau St. Tomah. Pastor Donald R. Buch will officiate. Burial will be at the Oak Grove Cemetery.

Relatives and friends called at the funeral home on Friday from 10:30 a.m. until the time of the service.

Sheldon A. Quist

Sheldon A. Quist, age 78, of Clifton, WI, died Thursday, Nov. 26, 2009, at the Tomah VA Medical Center. He was born Aug. 18, 1931, to Arthur and Lucele (Stoiber) Quist in the Township of Clifton, Wisconsin.

He was drafted into the military in 1951 at the age of 20, and he served as a small arms repairman/mail clerk for 2 years before he was discharged as Cpl.

He was united in marriage to Marjorie Connor June 23, 1956, at St. James Catholic Church in Camp Douglas.

Sheldon wore many hats in his career, a butter maker, welder, mason, carpenter, and locksmith until he joined the VA engineering department as a carpenter and retired as the Supervisor of Maintenance and Repair in 1991. In his spare time, Sheldon had many hobbies: hunting, fishing, especially mayfly fishing, maple syrup making, gardening, woodworking, coaching slow pitch softball (young boys), playing cards, mushroom hunting, dancing, shooting pool and playing Bumble Bee with the grandchildren.

He was a member of St. Michael’s Catholic Church at Indian Creek, the Knights of Columbus, National Rifle Association, Camp Douglas American Legion Post #133 and the Clifton Sportsman’s Club.

He is survived by his wife, Marjorie; his children, Karla Quist (friend, Dale Benson), Joseph (Susan) Quist, Kathy (Quist) Cook (friend, Bill Johnson), Kevin (Julie) Quist, Donna (Mark) Rezin and Kristi (Rob) Carlson; 15 grandchildren, Todd (Rhonda) Cook, Lorri Cook (friend, Bob Stelter), Melinda Cook, Merideth Quist, Heidi (Andy) Graff, Sarah Quist, Mitchell, Leah and Jacob Rezin, Joshua, Cassandra, Hope and Katrina Carlson, Amelia and Madeline Quist; 4 great grandchildren, Sierra and Krista Cook, Dillon Stelter and Aidan Koll; a brother, Norel (Marleen) Quist; three sisters, Audrey (Richard) Abbs, Maxine Franz and Donna Kreger; nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Arthur and Lucele; his brothers, Franklin and Korwin; brothers-in-law, Bill Kreger and Howard Franz and sister-in-law, Darlene Quist.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009, 11 a.m. at St. Michael’s Catholic Church, Indian Creek. Father Jon Ofori-Domah will officiate. Burial will follow in the St. Michael’s Catholic Cemetery. Family and friends are invited for visitation on Friday, Dec. 4, 2009, from 4 until 7 p.m. at the Torkelson Funeral Home in Tomah. Family and friends are also invited for visitation on Saturday from 10 a.m. until the time of service at the church. The Torkelson Funeral Home of Tomah is assisting the family with arrangements. Online condolences are available at www.torkelsonfuneralhome.com.

Gerald R. Westpfahl

Gerald R. Westpfahl, 67 of Tomah died suddenly, Wednesday, November 25, 2009 at Tomah Memorial Hospital. He was born on September 9, 1942 to Ruben and Eleanor (Von Haden) Westpfahl on the family farm in the town of Adrienne. His family moved off the farm into town in 1967. He was a member of the Tomah Senior High School Graduating Class of 1960. He was united in marriage to Maureen Dressler on July 7th, 2004 in Sparta. Gerald worked as a draftsman for Oakdale Electric for 30 years until his retirement in 2007. He served on the Tomah Fire Department for 27 years. He had a love for cars, especially his 1969 Stingray Corvette. Gerald was one who enjoyed tinkering finding all sorts of different projects to work on. He was loved being outdoors and spent his summers at the Pine Cove Campground on the Castle Rock Lake camping and boating.

He is survived by his wife and companion for over 27 years, Maureen, his mother Eleanor of Tomah, a son Robert (Patricia) Westpfahl stationed with the U.S. Air Force in Washington D.C., a step-son David (Tara) Dressler of Woodbury, MN, 3 grandchildren, Ian and Ryan Marie Westpfahl, and Cameron Dressler, 4 Brothers, Duaine (Charlotte) of Waverly, IA Donald (Mary) of Onalaska, Richard (Carol) of Holmen, Stuart (Ellen) of Tomah, 2 sisters Beverly (Rod) McCorkel of Hudson, and Patty (Larry) Bradley of Tomah, a sister-in-law of Susan Zinn of Milwaukee, a brother-in-law Gary Larson of Marshfield, nieces, nephews, may other relatives and friends.

He was preceded in death by his father, his mother-in-law and father-in-law, 2 infant brothers David and Robert, a sister-in-law Debra Larson, and a brother-in-law Tom Zinn.

Relatives and friends are invited for a visitation at the Sonnenburg Family Funeral Home, 801 E. Monowau Street, Tomah., on Sunday from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m.

A Private family service will be held at a later date.