Marilyn J. (Berg) Borgenheimer Holte

Marilyn J. (Berg) Borgenheimer Holte died peacefully at her home on Lake Wissota on June 16, 2023 surrounded by family. She was born in Minneapolis to William and Faye (Davis) Berg on June 3, 1931 and moved at age 12 to Chippewa Falls where she lived for the remaining 80 years of her life.

In 1953 she married Bob Borgenheimer and told him that if she was going to live in Chippewa Falls, it had to be on Lake Wissota—no discussion. Bob may have been her first love, but Lake Wissota was her enduring second. She came to know the lake’s every mood from its colors and shifting wind patterns (she could predict a storm’s arrival within minutes) to the clinking ice announcing Spring.  At the time of her death, she was the lake’s longest continuous resident.

Bob and Marilyn built a home at the lake and raised their five children there. When Bob passed away unexpectedly in 1973, Marilyn continued managing their cement contracting business until 1975 when she married Ray Holte and welcomed him and his four young children to the lake.

Several years before Ray’s death in 1998, Marilyn was elected to the Chippewa County Board and served for 30 years. She was especially proud of her work on the Land Conservation Committee and her post as the first woman to chair the Agriculture Extension Committee. She also served on the Chippewa Falls Area School Board for 18 years. An ardent supporter of libraries, Marilyn was a trustee of the IFLS up to the time of her death.

Marilyn enjoyed card club and bridge club with life-long friends, and golfing and bowling. “My golf score was about the same as my bowling score,” she’d quip. She sang for decades in the Chippewa Valley Community Chorus and discovered later in life a talent for watercolor painting. She was an avid reader, especially of nature and history. Most importantly, she passed along her love of nature, birds, and the night sky to her children and grandchildren.

She is predeceased by her parents; sister Anita Neuheisel and brother William K. Berg; husbands J.R. (Bob) Borgenheimer and Raymond Holte; and many dear friends and relatives.

She is survived by children Lynn Moline (Becca Norris), Jan (Al) Stranz, Karen Borgenheimer, Roberta Borgenheimer (Juergen Sauer), Dan (Ann) Borgenheimer; step-children Greg (Cindy) Holte, Karri Grace, Sam Holte (Peter Mazurkiewicz), and Brian (Suzi) Holte; grandchildren Mike Stranz, Megan Oswald, Robert, Ella, and Lily Borgenheimer, Austin Goodrich, Kali Heninger, Leah Grace, Ryan and Sammy Holte, and Jamie, Patty Rae, and Kevin Holte; and five great-grandchildren including Peter Stranz who entered the world the very day Marilyn departed. She is also survived by sister-in-law Roberta Berg and two dear nieces and three nephews.

The visitation will be on Thursday, July 20, 2023, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Pederson Volker Funeral Chapel, 44 E. Columbia St., Chippewa Falls. The funeral service will be at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, July 21, 2023, at Notre Dame Catholic Church, 117 Allen St., Chippewa Falls, with a visitation one hour prior to the service at church. Fr. Brandon Guenther will be officiating. The interment will be in Hope Cemetery, Chippewa Falls.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the Heyde Center for the Arts.