Christine L. Engstrom

Christine (Davy) Engstrom died peacefully in her sleep on May 4, 2025 in Ashland, Wisconsin, with family around her. Chris was born January 28, 1946 in Geneva, Illinois, Daughter of Elna Christine (Johnson) Davy and Allen Knight Davy and grew up in Kirkland, Illinois. She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Jon Davy. She is survived by her husband Norm Engstrom; three sons Jon (Maria), Tag (Kristine), and Nathan; her sister Marilyn Sim; and six grandchildren.
Chris attended Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, where she was a voice major and where she and Norm met. They were married seven days after graduating in 1967 and began a series of adventures moving from Iowa to Miami, Florida, where her first son, Jon, was born while Norm studied at the University of Miami. They then traversed the continent from Miami to Seattle, Washington, in a mechanically questionable baby blue Studebaker with an infant son, and with two dogs rescued from the city pound. Her second son, Tag, was born in the San Juan Islands in Washington State where Norm was studying at the University of Washington Friday Habor Marine Laboratory. From there, the growing family moved to Puerto Rico where Norm taught at the University of Puerto Rico. They lived for three years raising chickens, ducks, and adopting two more dogs before moving back to Illinois where a third son, Nathan, was added to the family. Chris raised her three sons in DeKalb while building on her lifetime love of reading and writing to earn a Master's in English from Northern Illinois University.
Throughout her life she maintained relationships with friends and family near and far through handwriting letters. She never forgot a song, had one for every occasion, and had an extensive catalog of lullabies that she sang for her kids and later for her grandkids. She loved to watch her boys play sports and music and fed the family fresh veggies from the large garden that always provided enough leftovers to freeze and sustain their appetites for green beans through the long winters. After the children were launched, Chris and Norm moved from town to a small farm outside of Paw Paw, Illinois. Chris gardened, wrote, crafted, and also taught English at Paw Paw High School, introducing generations of Paw Paw Bulldogs to literature from Shakespeare to SciFi. In 2013 Chris and Norm retired to Ashland, Wisconsin, repelled by the comforts of the warm southern climes and drawn by the allure of Lake Superior. In Ashland they added another child, perhaps also the smartest, Coco the labradoodle. Chris battled and beat breast cancer in 2017, but eventually was overcome by complications of that fight. She will be remembered as a strong woman. A mother, sister, friend, and wife. A quiet, loving, selfless soul, and the baker of the world's best rhubarb and pumpkin pies (the secret is in the crust).
There will be no formal funeral service at this time for Chris.
Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to the Mountain Funeral Home of Ashland, WI.