Marie "Toots" Berg

Marie "Toots" Berg, of Wabasha, died Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017, at Mayo Clinic Hospital - St. Marys Campus in Rochester after a brief illness. She was born Sept. 20, 1920, in Kenyon, the daughter of Melvin and Amalia (Huber) Thune. Toots graduated from Kenyon High School before working at Minnesota School for the Deaf in Faribault. She married Robert Kenneth Berg, of Zumbrota, on Dec. 22, 1941, the day prior to his WWII deployment.

Each day for 20 years Toots walked to her job at S&L clothing store in Rochester. She didn't sit for her first driver's test until she was 72. She was an avid photographer her entire life, the majority of which she spent on the banks of her beloved Mississippi River in Wabasha. She was an adventurous traveler from windjammers in Nova Scotia, cruises through the Panama Canal, and helicopter rides over Hawaiian volcanoes. She loved swing dance and listening to country music. She and her husband, Bob, were founding members of Faith Lutheran Church in Wabasha.

Toots is survived by daughters, Bobbie (Hans) Kondert and Rebecca (Arnold) Bomgaars; four grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandson; and sister-in-law, Darlene Thune. She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert; her brother, Richard Thune; and sister, Sharon Thune.

A funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 7, at Faith Lutheran Church in Wabasha, with the Rev. David Knox officiating. Interment will be at Fort Snelling National Cemetery. Friends and family may visit from 5 to 8 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 6, at Abbott Funeral Home in Wabasha and one hour before the service at the church on Tuesday. Memorials collected by the family will be donated to the Cardiac Rehabilitation Department at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Wabasha, 1200 5th Grant Blvd. W., Wabasha, MN 55981. The Abbott Funeral Home of Wabasha is in charge of arrangements. www.abbottfh.com