Edna L. Christensen-Vonck

Edna L. Christensen-Vonck (nee Schoenebeck) passed away on October 8, 2022, age 107 at Eden Vista Assisted Living. Edna was born September 8, 1915, to Walter and Lulu Schoenebeck.

On January 10, 1934, she married Valdemar Christensen. After his passing in 1980, Edna married Norbert Vonck in November of 1986. Edna's humble childhood home in Bagley, Wisconsin, was filled with music, love of the outdoors, and the ability to make a full life out of next to nothing. Edna grew up during a tumultuous time in American history that included World War I, the 1918 influenza pandemic, and the Great Depression. She was an outstanding student growing up and earned many academic honors, including winning the Oconto County spelling bee and tying for sophomore class president. In order to attend high school in Oconto Falls during the early 1930s Edna boarded with a friend in rooms near the town roller skating rink, where she started dating her future husband, Valdemar.

After graduating high school in 1933, Edna married her first husband, Valdemar (Wally) Christensen. She and Wally moved into a little house across the road from her parents' home in Bagley and they worked on various local farms. Edna and Wally had three children together, all born at home in that Bagley house: Valerie, Ronald, and Imogene.

In the winter of 1934-1935, Edna and Wally were planning to move to Matanuska Valley, Alaska, as part of an experimental federal farming program, when Wally became ill with pneumonia working in a

Wisconsin Northwoods lumber camp. A country doctor and Edna's care saved his life.

In about 1941, Edna and Wally purchased an old farm along Kelly Brook near Spruce, Wisconsin. Initially, there was no running water or indoor plumbing, and horses were used to farm the land. In addition to farming, the family worked together to make money in many ways. They caught minnows to sell, and raised beans and cucumbers for the canning factory. Edna raised and sold gladiolus flowers in town, including as arrangements in funeral baskets. She also trapped and sold mink and muskrat furs.

While never a wealthy woman, Edna worked hard and led a rich life filled with her extended family, community activities, and creative outlets. Edna was a talented gardener, winning many blue ribbons at regional and state gladiolus shows. She always maintained a large vegetable garden where she grew, canned, and shared an abundance of food for her family and friends. She was known for her delicious dill pickles, rhubarb cake, blackberry jam, and cinnamon rolls, among many other baked and canned goods. The family purchased a greenhouse for the farm where Edna further put her gardening skills to use. She also was a lover of houseplants and grew many special hybrid varieties of irises – many of which have been passed on as family heirlooms and are still being grown by members of her family.

In addition to gardening, Edna was skilled in the arts of quilting, crocheting, and sewing. She crocheted countless blankets, infant hats, and prayer shawls for hospitals, churches, and veterans, a "giving" hobby she maintained up until the last month of her life. Edna was also an accomplished bird-lover, cribbage player, marksman, and poet. She wrote poems for many special occasions, and her poems are cherished as much as the accompanying gifts.

In 1980, Edna's husband, Wally, died after almost 47 years of marriage. She remarried in 1986 to widower Nobert (Nubs) Vonck. They lived an active life together, splitting their time between Edna's farm and his house in Appleton, Wisconsin. They were married for 24 years before Nubs' death in 2010.

At the age of 99, health issues forced Edna to leave her beloved farm after more than 70 years and move to Green Bay. A pacemaker made her vibrant again and for the past eight years she led an active life in her assisted living apartment where she continued to hold court with her many relatives and friends, often beating them in cribbage, until mere days before her passing.

Edna is survived by her children; daughter, Valerie Allen, son, Ronald (Karen) Christensen, daughter, Imogene (Von) Solberg; step-daughter, Mary (Don) Abel, and sister-in-law, Donna Schoenebeck. She is further survived by 12 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren, 8 great-great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews who think of her as a second grandmother.

Visitation will take place on Saturday, October 22, 2022 from 9 am - 11 am at Newcomer Cremations, Funerals, & Receptions (340 S. Monroe Ave Green Bay) with a funeral service to follow. Burial to take place at St. Mark's Cemetery (Town of Spruce) at 3:30 pm.