RAYMOND BERG obituary

Raymond Charles Berg, 71, of Havre died Friday, March 31, 2006, at his home of natural causes.

His prayer vigil service will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday at St. Jude Catholic Church with his funeral Mass 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Jude Catholic Church in Havre with Father Robert D. Grosch officiating. A fellowship luncheon will be held at the St. Jude Parish Center immediately after the funeral Mass. Burial will be held at Cottonwood Cemetery north of Havre at 3 p.m. with military honors.

Raymond was born Jan. 15, 1935 in Circle to Bernard Nels and Mary Elizabeth Berg. When he was young, his family moved to a small ranch near Lewistown, where he received his elementary education at the one-room Paradise School.

At 17, he began working for the Great Northern Railway at Judith Gap. His job eventually brought him to Havre, where he met and married Anna M. Pruys on Oct. 19, 1963. In l962, he and his brother-in-law Junior Pruys purchased and operated the H&R Texaco Station on First Avenue in Havre. While running the service station, Ray pursued electronics training and attended adult education classed at Northern Montana College to prepare himself for a career in communication technology.

With these skills, in 1966 he rejoined the Great Northern Railway as a communications technician. During the next 31 years, he designed, installed and maintained telecom equipment for the BN Railway from St. Paul to Seattle. He retired in 1997.

After retirement, Ray and his wife, Anna, spent their winters in Yuma, Ariz., where he pursued his music with his friends. Their summers were spent in Havre, where he kept busy assisting friends and relatives with various projects.

Ray was a skilled carpenter and earlier in life had teamed up with several friends to build his own home and reciprocated by helping build theirs. He was a good mechanic and generally could repair anything mechanical. His skills and personality assured him of a “honey-do-list” from his many friends whenever he returned “home” from either Havre or Yuma. Ray also loved music and had a collection of guitars, keyboards and accordions, plus a computer with more than 2,000 songs stored on it.

Ray was diagnosed with cancer in December of 2005 and fought a valiant but short battle with cancer in several organs.

Survivors include his wife, Anna; brothers, Donald Berg of Denver, Colo., and George Berg of Lewistown; sisters, Betty Woodruff of Cody, Wyo., Margaret Randolph of Tulsa, Okla., Rose Bachman of Lewistown, Joan Mason of Phoenix, Ariz., Leona West of Everett, Wash., Naomi Myers of Tucson, Ariz., and Ruth Walla of Sidney; brothers-in-law, Joseph G. and Herman R. Pruys, both of Havre; and a large number of nieces and nephews.

His parents; brother, Russell Berg; sister, Alice Wilcox; and sisters-in-law, Angie Fritz and Dorothy Sivertsen, preceded him in death.

Memorials should be sent to the charity of ones choice.