Regina Herwald, age 94, of Princeton passed away October 24, 2007 at Cambridge Medical Center.Funeral services will be held at 11:30 A.M. on Saturday, October 27 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Princeton. A visitation will be held from 4:30 – 7:00 P.M. Friday at the church and also one hour prior to the funeral on Saturday. Interment will be at Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Long Prairie, Minnesota.
Regina Wilhelmina Augusta Ruth Herwald, 94, of Princeton went home to be with her Lord on Wednesday, October 24, 2007, at Cambridge Medical Center due to complications of pneumonia.
Regina was born on November 13, 1912 to Edward and Wilhelmina (Schawa) Schmidt at Round Prairie, MN, where her parents owned a Merchantile and Farm Implement business. In 1919, the family moved East of Long Prairie and homesteaded a portion of the Schawa property. Regina was no stranger to hard work as a child, picking rocks and potatoes for fifty cents a week. She attended Greenwood Country School and later parochial school at Immanuel Lutheran Church in conjunction with Confirmation where she was confirmed on April 10, 1927. She was thrust into the position of family homemaker at age twelve, doing all the cooking, baking, sewing and housework for the family of five, when her mother became bedridden for six months after a leg injury.
At age 17, Regina moved to the Minneapolis area and worked as a Domestic for many prominent families. Her employment record is long and varied including stints working in the diet kitchens at Midway Hospital and also at Mudbaden Health Spa in Jordan applying hot mud to ladies who came to the spa in search of a cure for various ailments including alcoholism.
On August 1, 1940, she married Willard Herwald at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Long Prairie. They lived in Chicago where she worked many jobs including bottling commercial permanent wave solution at Helene Curtis and at a radio factory soldering circuits.
In 1945 Regina and Willard bought a farm near Dalbo. Finding it difficult to maneuver through the mud each spring, they sold that farm and in 1948 purchased another farm four miles east of Princeton. That farm became their home until Regina moved into the Princeton Apartments in 2002. She helped with all the farm chores and also worked outside the home. She worked at the Heymer Turkey Farm, the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant during the Korean and Vietnam Wars, Fingerhut, Knotty Pine Cafe as a cook and assisted Willard as custodian at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Princeton.
Even while working outside the home, she tended a large garden and canned the fruits of her labor. She also found time to contribute to her community as a 4-H project leader for ten years with the Busy Bees 4-H Club, and she volunteered with her church group as a “gray lady” at the Cambridge State Hospital. She was a 26 year member of the Ladies Auxiliary to the VFW. Regina was also a member of the Immanuel Lutheran “pie ladies” group. It was not unusual for the group to make over 2,000 pies each fall as a fund raising event.
Regina enjoyed dancing. Starting at an early age, she attended old time dances with her brothers and neighbor friends. She continued dancing until age 93 when she suffered a mild stroke. She also enjoyed fishing, shaking dice and playing cards. She loved cooking and baking and will be most remembered for her donuts and pies. She was happy she could teach her son-in-law, Stanley, how to make donuts and her grandson, Karl, the art of pie making.
After Willard died in 1996, she enjoyed traveling and took trips to Texas, Florida, California, Alaska, Michigan and Branson, MO. In 2000 she traveled to Italy, Switzerland and Germany, to see her father’s homeland.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Willard; daughter, Edith Harrington; brothers, Albert, Alfred, George and Wilton; and son-in-law, Stanley Hohn.
She was very proud of her family and loved them very much. She will be deeply missed by all whose lives she touched. She is survived by her daughter, Geraldine Hohn, Isanti; Grandchildren, Kalee (Michael) Hetland, Coon Rapids; Karl (Jennifer) Hohn, Isanti; Patrick (Karen) Harrington Jr., Shell Lake, WI; Eugene (Mary) Harrington, Shell Lake, WI; Kerry (Dennis) Swan, Shell Lake, WI; Michael (Patti) Harrington, Eau Claire, WI; Cynthia (Thomas) Repphun, Appleton, WI; seventeen great-grandchildren; son-in-law, Patrick Harrington, Sr., Shell Lake, WI; sister-in-law, Vasie Schmidt, Crosby, MN and many nieces, nephews and friends.