Bernadine Adell Tangen Weber passed away a month ago on June 11, 2010 at her home in Happy Valley, Oregon. She was the eldest of six children born to Ole O and Kathryn M (Vandervort) Tangen. Ole had a farming homestead in North Dakota and Kathryn was the local school marm. They married and began their life in the Dakotas, but returned to Hanlontown, Iowa to help the paternal grandparents on their farm where Bernadine was born on January 18, 1923. Her parents worked on the family farm and after Ole’s father passed away later rented farms in several communities in Wisconsin. Ole’s mother lived with them for many years and Bernadine loved her very much.
Bernadine met her husband, Robert “Bob” Sherwood Weber, at church in the little town of Kendall, Wisconsin and they became interested in each other after Kathryn Tangen, asked her daughter to give that “nice Weber boy” a piece of cake that she had brought down for the kids at camp. While Bernadine and Bob were both born the same year, Bernadine had started school at four years of age while Bob started school at six. They were two years apart in school and when she graduated from high school and although he still had two years to go, they became secretly engaged. They were formally engaged when he graduated from high school two years later in May of 1942 and then World War II interfered with their marriage plans. Bob joined the Army Air Corps training to be a pilot. Cadets at that time could not be married but two years later, however, when married men were being allowed to join, single men were allowed to get married and Bernadine took a train from Portland, Oregon to Monroe, Louisiana where there were married on June 17, 1944. A couple of months later, and when Bob was to deploy to England, he became very ill with sleeping sickness. By the time he was well enough to head overseas, the war was coming to an end. They left the military and moved to a small town outside Portland, Oregon. They remained there until Jan 1953 when during the Korean Conflict, Bob again joined the Air Force. The family moved frequently and lived in California, South Dakota, Texas, Mississippi, Washington, & Oregon. They were stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany for three years. Through all the transfers and upheaval, Bernadine maintained a secure and loving home for the family. She loved to spend time drinking coffee and chatting with friends and was known for her great hospitality and ability to bake and decorate cakes. She gladly and always welcomed her children’s friends into her home whether high school, college or as adults.
When Bob retired from the military and after he built their home in Portland, Oregon, he began working as a State Farm Insurance Agent and Bernadine again carried her share of the load by being the bookkeeper/accountant for the business. Bernadine had an avid interest in family history and took great pains to compile a significant family tree for her Tangen relatives and was very active in the family Tangen reunions held every three years.
Mom was a terrific mom, always loving and caring. We miss you very much and no one can ever take your place. We look forward to seeing you again when our turn comes to cross the river Jordan. Thanks for being such a great person and thanks for living your faith in God so that we could see first hand how loving the Creator of all is and why we are so blessed that God the Son came and died for our sins. We can never repay you for the love and care we experience and for your faithfulness to God and to our family.
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