Eveline Koehne
Funeral services for Eveline Koehne, 101, of Pipestone, formerly of Lake Benton, will be at 2 p.m. at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lake Benton on Friday, February 24.
Visitation is one hour prior to the service at the church. Eveline passed away on Monday, February 19, 2018 at the Good Samaritan Village in Pipestone.
Eveline (Hoberg) Koehne was born November 16, 1916 at Dagmar, Montana, the daughter of Peter and Rosa (Schultz) Hoberg.
She was baptized into the Methodist faith. When she was three years old, the family moved to Minnesota. The family farmed northwest of Lake Benton and she attended rural School District #53.
After helping an aging grandparent near New Ulm when she was 12, Eveline went to high school in Lake Benton.
Many years later, after raising four children and going to their graduations, she returned to school and achieved her GED. Eveline was a hard worker, as one of the oldest Hoberg family of eleven children.
She worked in the field with horses, cooked in the kitchen, and helped raise the younger children. All these lessons equipped her for her own adult life. While everyday life was hard, Eveline also spoke of the laughter, the music and warm times she had with her family.
They were constantly playing jokes on each other, and the rug would be rolled up when her father brought out his fiddle and a brother his harmonica. Those times, too, were good examples of years to come.
Eveline was united in marriage to Benjamin Koehne on September 28, 1935, at Brookings, SD.
Eveline was confirmed at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Lake Benton in July of 1936. She and Ben farmed the Koehne home farm southeast of Lake Benton in Fountain Prairie Township.
She was immediately immersed in family farm life. Eveline always had a huge garden, canned and froze food that was delicious and often had extra food around the table.
Relatives loved to visit the Koehne home–for Eveline was a great hostess.
She raised chickens for the eggs and roosters for eating and could serve a full meal without a thought. During this time, four children were born: Marlyn, Allen, Gayle and JaNeil.
These were the depression years, and Eveline found ways to show them love and concern. Family games, puzzle, making pizza and popcorn were all memories of a family growing together.
And as these children grew and married, she welcomed each grandchild with love–and made each one feel important. Over the years, Eveline often wrote poetry and articles about her family and what life was like when she was growing up.
She also wrote about each of her grandchildren and these written memories are now a treasure to her family members.
Ben and Eveline farmed together for 59 years and then in 1997, they moved to Lake Benton where they lived in the Hole in the Mountain Apartments, where work began to slow down for Eveline. Ben became ill in September of 2001 and died on October 13, 2001.
Eveline was an active member of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lake Benton and served on the Altar Guild and was in the Dorcas Society. She was also a member of the Neighborly Neighbor’s Club and the Grandmother’s Club.
She became an active member of the Mealsite Program in Lake Benton and made many friends there.
She became a resident of the Good Samaritan Village in Pipestone in the fall of 2007. She loved visiting with the staff and residents, and enjoyed all the entertainment they provided, as well as the Bingo games and occasional parties.
She was a resident there until her death.
Eveline enjoyed her family, loved to sew, wrote poetry and stories, and was so helpful to all around her. She was a true caregiver and a faithful servant to God. We all have been rewarded for having known and loved her.
She is survived by her children: Maryln and Joyce Koehne of Langdon, ND, Gayle and Peter VanVooren of Minneota, and JaNeil Peschon of Pipestone; 12 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; 4 great-great-grandchildren; her sister LaDonna Knez; and many nieces and nephews.
Eveline was preceded in death by her parents, Peter and Rosa Hoberg; husband, Ben Koehne; son, Allen Koehne; grandson, Travis Peschon; and her siblings, Dennis Hoberg, Erma Risch, Juanita Steinley, Mildred Lee, Jorgen Hoberg, Lester Hoberg, Earl Hoberg, Nina Willer and Darrel Hoberg.