Anderson Funeral Home
Homeserving families for over 70 years
312 South Stone St.
Augusta, WI 54722
715-286-2222
Warren Barberg
W. Warren Barberg, 95, of Eau Claire passed away on August 18th at Grace Edgewood assisted living in Altoona.
Warren was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 12, 1928 to Wayne and Lillian Barberg. He and his brothers grew up in Cokato, Minnesota in a Finnish household with an outside, wood-fired sauna that was an important part of their lives–including rolling in the snow after a hot sauna. Warren enjoyed the outdoors, camping, and being active in Boy Scouts, where he achieved the rank of Eagle.
After graduating from high school, he joined the Merchant Marines to bring horses to Poland after WWII. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie, WI, where he was active in the Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity. He graduated from Stout in 1952 with a degree in Industrial Arts, and he began selling life insurance for Equitable of Iowa. He became a General Agent with Equitable of Iowa in Eau Claire and then expanded into developing pension plans for businesses along with tax planning. That led to his career in real estate development with a variety of types of properties including hotels and conference centers in Eau Claire and Green Bay, WI.
Warren volunteered in many roles in the community, striving to help Eau Claire to be a more vibrant and livable city. He served as the president of the Grace Lutheran Foundation for many years, and he volunteered his time and talent to help them establish their portfolio of senior housing options.
Warren met his wife, Doreen Sieg, in Eau Claire, and they were married on October 3, 1959. During his nearly 65 years of marriage, he and his wife and children enjoyed many vacations, picnics, and family traditions.
He is survived by Doreen and their 3 children, Lynn (Larry) Lindahl in Arkansas, Bill (Angela) Barberg in Minnesota and Ann Geyer in Maryland.
Warren was a wonderful dad who loved doing things with his family.
They enjoyed many traditions, including summer vacations at Jenny Linds Resort near Hayward. He also enjoyed being active with his son, Bill, in Boy Scouts, and was one of the dads supporting the troop for two backpacking trips to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico.
He had a wide range of hobbies, from hunting and fishing to sailing, skiing, hot air ballooning, and watching the Green Bay Packers. He enjoyed having a “shop” filled with tools that he used to make a wide variety of things such as a contraption to haul brush and a rack to transport his sailboat on top of the fishing boat. He also made a carpetball table for the backyard of their home that the family enjoyed for many years.
Warren was skilled at fixing things that were broken, especially taping worn out boxes. He had a lot of patience when it came to sewing on buttons and untangling knots in anything, but especially jewelry. He enjoyed challenging himself to do mundane things like mowing the lawn as efficiently as possible, and was always timing himself to see if he could beat his fastest time. If you went up or down stairs with him, he would always be able to tell you how many steps there were.
He also enjoyed his role as a grandfather, affectionately known as “Bumpy,” for his 8 grandchildren. He carefully groomed trails through the woods behind their house so he could pull his grandkids behind his John Deere tractor in a train of sleds in the winter and in a garden trailer the rest of the year.
Warren was preceded in death by his parents, Wayne and Lillian, and his three brothers, Alvin (Fern), Edsel (Shirley), and Dick, whose wife Rose still lives in Minnesota.
Visitation will be on Friday, September 20th from 4:00 to 7:00pm at the Chippewa Valley Church, 1805 Goff Ave, Eau Claire, WI 54701. A memorial service will be held at 11:00am on Saturday, September 21st at the same location, with visitation from 10:00 to 11:00 am and a light lunch following the service.
Anderson Funeral Home in Augusta is assisting the family.
Memories of Warren can be shared and memorials may be donated to the Chippewa Valley Church benevolence fund or the charity of your choice via the online obituary at www.andersonfhaugusta.com.
Online condolences can be left at www.andersonfhaugusta.com
