Memorial services will be held Monday morning, March 17, 2014, at 10:30 a.m., in Bethel Mennonite Church in Mountain Lake, Minnesota for 89-year-old Magdalene Becker of Mountain Lake. The church is located at 301 9th Street North. The Reverend Galen Kauffman will officiate at the services.
Interment will be in Mountain Lake City Cemetery, located at 10th Street North at Midway Road.
Visitation will be held in the Mountain Lake Chapel of Sturm Funeral Home on on Sunday, March 16, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The funeral home is located at 420 10th Street North. A second visitation will be from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at the church the day of the services.
Magdalene Becker passed away Wednesday, March 12, 2014, in Winona, Minnesota.
Magdalene Rose Becker was born August 16, 1924, in Mountain Lake, the daughter of Isaac J. and Marie (Goertzen) Adrian. Maggie lived nearly all her life in Mountain Lake, until granddaughter Jamie and Tyler Panka of Winona cared for her in their home during the last two years. Her youth was spent on the family farm southeast of town, helping with the work of homemaking and gardening. She attended District #32 Country School for eight years, following which her father disallowed her continuing further.
On June 26, 1952, Magdalene married Otto Becker at the First Mennonite Church in Mountain Lake. With her husband, she spent 49 years farming and raising a family, and was employed in area industries for much of that time. Among other things, she was known for decorating cakes and keeping beautiful gardens. Magdalene was a member of Bethel Mennonite Church. She volunteered for many years preparing fund-raising meals for the Mountain Lake Christian Day School, providing goods for auction at MinnKota MCC Relief Sale and staffing at the Care and Share Thrift Shop in Mountain Lake.
Magdalene is survived by two children, Eileen (Merlin) Becker-Hoover of Goshen, Indiana, and Loren Becker of Williamstown, Kentucky; grandchildren Anna Marie (Ryan Foley) Becker-Hoover of Vancouver, Washington, Sara (Jose Lizcano) Becker-Hoover of San Antonio, Texas, Jamie (Tyler) Panka, and Jennifer Minor of Winona, and Rebekah Djerf of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota; great-grandchildren Dominic Panka, Vivian RoseMary Panka, and Jaden Djerf; one brother Joseph (Gladys) Adrian of Glencoe, Minnesota; and sister-in-law Lorraine (Abe) Adrian of Mountain Lake and many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband Otto; a daughter Yvonne (Keith) Griffith; sister Martha (Henry H.) Pankratz; and brother Abe Adrian.