Funeral services will be held on Saturday November 2, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. at the Elim Lutheran Church in Range, Wisconsin with lunch to follow. Burial will be at the Elim Cemetery. There will be visitation at the funeral home on Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. and for the hour prior to the service at the church.


Marie Elizabeth Gall passed away on Monday, October 28, 2013 at Golden Age Manor in Amery where she had been a resident for the past six years. Marie was born at home in Beaver Township, Polk County, Wisconsin to Peter Peterson and Helga Anderson Peterson on September 18, 1923. She was baptized and confirmed at Elim Lutheran Church in Range, Wisconsin, where her parents were charter members. Marie walked with her brother and sister to attend the Alec C. Johnson Grade School, which was about two miles from their home. She lost her mother when she was a senior in high school. In an autobiography written when she was 18 she recalls having to solve many problems alone without the advice and loving care from a mother. She graduated from Amery High School in 1942. After graduation Marie worked at the Amery Bakery and was a nanny for several families in Amery.
The Frank Gall family and the Peter Peterson family lived only two miles apart north of Range, but were not well acquainted. Marie Peterson and Bud Gall met at a Farmers Union meeting. This was during World War II and Marie's brother Fred was in the Army in Europe and Bud's brother Ernie was a Prisoner of War in Germany. The war caused an extreme shortage of rubber for tires and many of Marie and Bud's dates included the patching of tires. One date resulted in so many flat tires that Marie arrived home at 7:00 a.m. to see her Dad waiting for her at the kitchen table. It was then Marie and Bud decided to get married and stop dating. They were married at Elim Lutheran Church on November 17, 1944. Gene Herold loaned them a "good tire" so they could go on their honeymoon.
Marie moved to the Gall Farm where she and Bud farmed 80 acres. In 1948 they built a new barn. Marie had three children before running water was installed in the house in 1954. They got a (9 family party line) phone in 1962. The Peterson and Gall families, their North Range neighbors, along with Elim Church friends, provided a strong support system for Marie and Bud throughout their married life. Marie was active in a birthday club, a homemakers club and her church. She served as a Sunday School teacher, Bible School teacher and Ladies Aid President. She made countless batches of cookies for people and was known for her blue ribbon winning angel food cake.
Every Saturday Marie made homemade bread, biscuits, and cinnamon rolls; she made a Devil's Food Cake from scratch every week for Bud because that was his favorite. Bud and Marie had coffee and "a little lunch" about six times a day; they danced in the kitchen to the music on the radio and they never tired of talking to each other. Marie was a prolific letter writer. She sent birthday cards to all her grandchildren, nieces and nephews and then to their children as they came along. Always enclosed was a stick of Wrigley's gum and ten dimes taped to the card. Every day she sent Bud to the mailbox with 5 or 6 letters to mail. Her caring and thoughtfulness will long be remembered.
Marie and Bud provided a home for their three daughters and one son, filled with laughter along with strong values of honesty and kindness. Our family ate supper together every night of the week. After helping Dad hay on a hot day we would pile in the car to go to the Root Beer stand in Range. Family vacations to Lake Superior or the Black Hills were an important part of our childhood as well as Sunday visits with cousins or Grandpa and Grandma Gall after church and Sunday School, of course. Music was also an important part of our family and we all knew how to polka by the time we were five.
It was always fun to be at Grandma Marie's and she will be especially missed by her 8 grandchildren. There were always baby kitties to play with in the barn, cookies in the cookie jar, and endless time to rock in the rocking chair and read stories. Grandpa and Grandma Gall loved to take their grandchildren on a drive, to a local museum, or to the Dairy Queen. Marie was preceded in death by her husband of 60 years, Bud Gall, in 2004. Her mother and father Peter and Helga Peterson, her sister Till and brothers Lawrence, Melvin, Fred and Clarence Peterson. Her mother and father-in-law Frank and Sadie Gall also preceded her in death. She is survived by her daughters: Shirley Halyburton of Hudson, WI; Margie (Scott) Stary of Turtle Lake, WI; and Judy Gall-Fischer of Cameron, WI; son Gary Gall and his wife Mickey of Comstock, WI; eight grandchildren: Kate Pearson-Halyburton of Arlington, TX; Mark Stary of St. Paul, MN; Kelly & Shawn Leith of Poplar, WI; Amy & Derek Johnson of Madison, WI; Brian Fischer of Madison, WI, Kari Fischer of Madison, WI, Shilo Gall Hove of Osceola, WI and Gary Gall II of Turtle Lake, WI. She also leaves great grandchildren: John & Spencer Hove, Gavin Fischer, Harper & Dawson Leith, and Emma Johnson; her sister Elsie Johnson of Avalon, WI; sisters-in-law Fran Elfstrom of Shoreview, MN and Betty Peterson of Turtle Lake, WI as well as many nieces and nephews and other relatives and friends.
Marie's family wishes her obituary to close with another note from the autobiography she wrote when she was 18: "I want to live a happy and beautiful life, to help my fellow men and women to the best of my ability and to have it said of me at last, 'she is but a beautiful memory.'"