Marjorie "Margie" Sommerfeld

A memorial service for Margie will be held Friday, June 21, 2024 from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM.

Marjorie Lou Sommerfeld, 99, of Wauwatosa, WI, passed away peacefully on Saturday March 16, 2024 at Elaine’s Hope Lutheran Home Memory Care in Wauwatosa, WI. She was surrounded by loving caregivers from Elaine’s Hope and St. Croix Hospice and family members by phone.

Marjorie was born November 19, 1924, in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, the daughter of Percy George Pray and Marlea Vernon Roblee Pray.

She is survived by:

Her daughter, Sherry Hawkins (nee Sommerfeld) of Jonesboro, GA

Three sons, Scott Sommerfeld (Susan Altenbach) of Oakland, CA, Jerald Sommerfeld (Crystal Kamber) of Las Vegas, NV, and Mark Sommerfeld (Maria) of North Las Vegas, NV

Two granddaughters Jennie Wiggins (Corey) of Cartersville, GA, and Corey Theune (John) of Rohnert Park, CA

One great grandson, Parrish Wiggins of Cartersville, GA

One niece Sandi Schultz (Dennis) of Stillwater, OK, her brother Melvin’s daughter

And long time friends, Carolou Nelsen and Elaine Watson at the Harwood Place Senior Living Community, Wauwatosa, WI

Marjorie is preceded in death by:

Her great grandparents,

Caleb S. and Almira L. Coller Thayer Pray;

Jay F. and Eliza Hall Roblee

Her grandparents,

Irving M. and Maggie J. Bradley Pray;

Joseph and Eveline ‘Effie’ L. Crofoot Pray

Her parents Percy George Pray and Marlea Vernon Roblee Pray

Her only brother Melvin George Pray and his wife Marcella ‘Midge’ Bartol Pray

Her loving husband of 55 years on May 7, 2000, John F. (Jack) Sommerfeld

Her only grandson, Scott TeRonde

Her son-in-law, Charles “Buddy” Hawkins

And long time Harwood Place friends, Eleanor Hoehn, Geri Stone and Betty Sydow.

Marjorie’s family would like to acknowledge very special friends, Barbara Klemp, Carol Shoberg, Kerry Sue Bartelt, John and Jane Altenbach, Patricia Werner Cooke and Beverly Kamber for their support over the years and thank the staff at Elaine’s Hope Memory Care for the excellent care of their mother.

The family also extends their gratitude to the staff of St. Croix Hospice – Milwaukee caring for and keeping Marjorie comfortable and peaceful in her final days. Special thanks to hospice nurse Mikayla Boehlke of St. Croix and nurse Julie of Elaine’s Hope who were at Marjorie’s bedside until the end.

In lieu of flowers and to join the family in saying thank you to the Lutheran Home’s Elaine’s Hope team for the loving care of Marjorie, check donations can be mailed to The Lutheran Home Foundation, Attn: Bridgette Frommell at

8220 Harwood Avenue, Wauwatosa, WI 53213 or made on-line by clicking the DONATE button located on the upper right of the web page at www.thelutheranhome.org For questions, contact Bridgette Frommell

at (414) 256– 6836.

Who Was Marjorie Lou Pray?

Marjorie considered herself a bit of a tom boy growing up on East 13th Street in Fond du Lac, WI with her next-door neighbor Johnny Little and another close friend Kenny Jacobs. She remembered many a scrap with those boys but, they always came back as better friends. Her friendship with Johnny Little endured into their 90’s.

She had fond memories of a loving home. Despite a seven-year age difference with her older brother Melvin, Marjorie cherished having an older brother and as a young teenager was given a puppy by him while he was employed at a local pet store.

Her early life was shaped by what became the Great Depression. Doing without many things was just a way of life and her reconciliations of hard times were faint as family and relatives came together to help each other through those financially lean times. There were annual gatherings of Roblee and Pray relatives and extended families at Lake Park in Fond du Lac which gave her a grounding in her roots and in later years a yearning to uncover her ancestry. Holidays were made special by her parents and she enjoyed having an older brother to share them with.

Her great grandfather Caleb Sheldon Pray and later her grandfather Irving Melvin Pray farmed the same 80 acres across the county road to the northwest from the Empire Cemetery a few miles north of Eden, WI from the 1860s to about 1895. Irving Pray is noted in “The History of Fond du Lac County” as having the first pasteurized dairy in the County. They are buried along with their wives and other Pray family members at Empire Cemetery. The cemetery would become a familiar place for Marjorie as she spent many a visit along with her father Percy to tidy up the grass and weeds surrounding the grave markers of her relatives. This was a way to teach her about her ancestors. On occasion, she would wander through the cemetery fence to explore the old Methodist Episcopal Church attended generations ago by many of her relatives and others from the surrounding farms. She would stand at the alter and pretend to conduct services to congregations of long ago.

Growing up, Marjorie had a loyal group of girl-friends throughout her school years. Known as Margie to them, she attended Fond du Lac elementary and junior high schools and graduated from Fond du Lac High School in 1942. Her girl-friends stayed close well into their adult lives re-living many a memory at high school reunions.

She had a love for dance at a young age and spent many after school hours honing her dance skills at Cleo Smith’s dance school on South Main Street. As a young teenager, Margie participated in dance recitals in and around the Fond du Lac area and got to know Lola Costas from dance class. One of Cleo’s older dance students, Lola’s family owned and operated the local drive-in, The Beer Hut, located on Scott Street.

In high school, Margie dreamed about being an airline hostess or stewardess. The thought of travel to different places intrigued her. In the late 1930s into the1940s, most airlines required a nursing degree for airline hostess applicants. Among the rigorous requirements, the required nursing degree demonstrated institutionally trained girls (registered nurses) were self-disciplined and schooled to serve the public while providing additional medical training, knowledge and experience as an afterthought.

As a high school senior, Margie changed a couple of her business classes to science classes that would be useful in college coursework to become a nurse. Her mother, Marlea, was not at all happy with Marge when the class change was discovered but allowed her to exercise her independent nature.

Another high school class she truly enjoyed was history and her interest in world history, current world events and politics stayed with her throughout her life.

She met her future husband Jack Sommerfeld while in high school going to local dances with girl-friends after football games. After-game dances were popular places to socialize and hopefully stay out of trouble. Swing and big band style was the music of the day and a great venue for self-expression. Margie recalled many boys simply could not dance and because of her dance background, she found it less than fun. However, one standout at these dances was an older boy, a few years her senior, named Jack Sommerfeld. And boy could he “jive”. Needless to say as time went on a friendship and budding affection began.

By June 1942, Margie graduated high school and her friendship with Jack Sommerfeld had grown. The Pray and Sommerfeld families embraced their new romance and relationship. After graduation, she began working for Jack’s father Emil Sommerfeld who had a home furnishing business on South Main north of First Street. She started as a bookkeeper taking over those duties from a long-time employee who retired. Jack was in his second year of classes at Layton School of Art in Milwaukee coming home most weekends to work in his father’s business installing carpet and hanging draperies in Fond du Lac homes.

Timing was not in their favor, however.

The attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941 brought the United States into war with Japan and Germany. The military draft was in effect and Fond du Lac men were registering for service. Jack Sommerfeld was no exception. He was deployed for service in fall of 1942.

Margie stayed employed as the main bookkeeper at Sommerfeld’s Furnishings, Inc at 75 East Main Street throughout the time Jack was away in Alberta Canada as an Army Air Corps Traffic Controller.

Prior to the end of the war in September 1945, Marjorie Pray and Jack Sommerfeld were engaged. On April 22, 1945, she married her fiance John ‘Jack’ Frederick Sommerfeld while he was on an emergency furlough. Jack’s mother was in ill health and it was his desire to be married before his mother’s health worsened.

After the war, Marge and Jack Sommerfeld newly married, settled into Fond du Lac life together again, soon bringing a daughter Sherry, into the world. Jack began working again with his father’s business and Marjorie began learning the ropes as a new mom.

Also at this time, Marge’s brother Melvin returned to the US after serving overseas and married Marcella Bartol. Within a few years, they welcomed their daughter, Sandi. Marge became an aunt and Sherry became a 1st cousin. Sharing the new parent experience with her brother and his wife established a stronger bond with Melvin and brought a sense of pride.

The Sommerfeld family started out living with Marge’s mother Marlea Pray. Within time, the need for their own home was apparent. The Sommerfeld’s moved into their own home on East 12th Street behind the Elizabeth Water’s Elementary School. During this period, a second business, a home interiors store, focusing on interior design and selling modern furniture was opened by Jack and his father Emil a few store fronts south at 79 East Main Street. During this period, Marge embraced the challenges of motherhood and, along with, Jack looked forward to sharing times together with family and friends, especially during holiday seasons.

Five years passed and another child, a boy, Scott came into their lives. Life continued. In the early 1950s, more change entered their lives with the closing of the home interiors store and selling the original Sommerfeld’s Furnishings store to Jack’s cousin. Eager to pursue new opportunities, Marge and Jack packed up Sherry and Scott in fall of 1955 and moved to Milwaukee, WI where Jack found work as a graphic artist at Olsen Publishing, eventually heading up a new animation department for the company.

Oh, by the way, Marge was pregnant and another boy, Jerry, was born a few weeks after arriving in Milwaukee. The family settled into an upper duplex on Murray Ave, a few blocks from Columbia Hospital and the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee campus.

Rounding out the family, about two and a half years later, one more son, Mark, joined his siblings on Murray Ave.

Marjorie certainly had her hands full in the late 1950’s balancing child rearing, and managing household operations, bookkeeping and financial duties for the Sommerfeld family.

In the early 1960s, a final move brought the Sommerfeld family to Wauwatosa, WI.

Through out the 60s and 70s Marge navigated the ups, downs and challenges of raising four children and their many needs. She supported her husband in his career endeavors, re-entered the work world at Beihoff Music store in the mid 1960’s and later worked at Home Insurance in Wauwatosa.

She strived to make the Sommerfeld house a home. Christmas was one of her most favorite holidays along with her husband Jack and together they created many fond and memorable Christmases for the Sommerfeld children. It was pure joy for her to see the excitement of her children on many a Christmas day.

The late 1970s found her children finding their way in the adult world and her husband Jack, with a new Master’s degree in Visual Communication from UW – Milwaukee. Within a short time, Jack secured a one-year teaching position in visual art and design at Lamar University in Beaumont, TX. Marjorie was off to join Jack in Beaumont a year later after he was welcomed into the Lamar University community with a multi-year contract. Although she did not drive a car most of her life, Marge did learn well enough to get a driver’s license with the help of a co-worker at Home Insurance before she left for Beaumont in 1979. Leaving familiarity and routines behind in Wisconsin was both scary and exciting but, the prospect of a new chapter, a new life with her husband in a new part of the country was an adventure she welcomed.

For the next 12 years, Marge worked at a regional insurance company in Beaumont and joined her husband in countless University events, meeting new friends at both their places of employment and settling in as ‘Northern’ transplants into Southern culture. There were countless trips to explore places of interest in Texas and Louisiana. Throughout the Beaumont years there were also many trips to re-connect with their children and friends, keeping them busy throughout their years there.

Retirement in 1991 brought Marge and Jack back to Wauwatosa. They had been gone a long time. Re-connecting with old friends came quickly for them. Soon after though, she became Jack’s main caregiver when his health declined. Since she didn’t drive, Marge would take Jack on the city bus to Washington Park Senior Center for computer classes and tap dance lessons or to attend summer art events at the Milwaukee lakefront.

She ushered at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater with long-time friend and next-door neighbor Geri Rogge and enjoyed playing bridge with neighborhood friends.

Barbara Klemp, a volunteer with a Milwaukee Eldercare organization, began to assist Marjorie and Jack driving them to the grocery store each week and soon was enjoying a glass of wine with them upon their return, developing a very special friendship.

With Jack’s passing in 2000, Marjorie entered a new chapter of her life. In 2003, she made the decision to move to Harwood Place Senior Living Community in Wauwatosa. Always determined, she sold the Sommerfeld family home all by herself and became one of the original residents in a newly completed wing at Harwood Place.

She immersed herself in Harwood residential culture and made new friends. She participated in the Harwood Place Dance Troupe that performed for fellow residents. With the assistance of son Scott, she planted and maintained a plot in the communal garden, growing tomatoes, strawberries and flowers. She served on Harwood committees that addressed recycling issues and oversaw their “Little Free Library” where she would check weekly inventory, add new book contributions, and report on the condition of the library box located by the sidewalk on Harwood Ave.

Always concerned with health and fitness, she joined exercise classes and was featured in a Harwood Place ad pedaling away on an exercise bike. She made it her mission to walk up and down the stairs and hallways of all seven floors of the main Harwood building every Sunday. This vigorous activity may have been to counteract her love for York peppermint patties, chocolates, cashews and pistachios which came as frequent gifts from family and friends.

On Fridays, she met with friends Eleanor Hoehn, Geri Stone, Elaine Watson, Carolou Nelsen and Betty Sydow for a cocktail hour followed by dinner in the dining room. The same gang also took annual “camping trips” to various southern Wisconsin locales. Because all of her immediate family members lived in distant states, Marjorie also became an important part of the holiday celebrations of the Altenbach family, joining them at their homes for festive meals on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Indeed, she became central to their holiday traditions, leading the quirky “Reindeer Dance” that was loved by Jules Altenbach and being dubbed the “Energizer Bunny” by Shirley Altenbach.

Life for Marge took a turn in late 2019 when it became clear that she could no longer live independently. After her 95th birthday was celebrated by family and friends, she moved to the Lutheran Home’s assisted living wing in Wauwatosa. Soon after, at the beginning of 2020, she became one of the first residents of Elaine’s Hope, a new Memory Care Center, that is a part of the Lutheran Home. After years of downsizing, Marge brought only her clothing, a few furniture pieces, assorted knick knacks, a floral painting by an old Fond du Lac friend, Tommy Sullivan, and most cherished of all, four of her husband’s expressively unique acrylic paintings. Her room took on the appearance of an art gallery. She was surrounded by artwork of her late husband, their longtime friend and the fond memories of their past.

She amassed a large collection of small stuffed animals, prizes given in countless bingo games. Even when confined to a wheelchair, she was quick with her feet and could be out the door of her “apartment” in an instant.

Throughout her life, Marge made the best of what life presented and would look for the good in people who entered her life. She was known to welcome new resident’s to the Elaine’s Hope community who were often scared, bewildered or just struggling with their own adjustment to assisted living. Her re-assuring voice and demeanor helped these folks settle into their new home at Elaine’s Hope. Because of her high spirits, she became known by staff as “Miss Perky”.

Marjorie taught her children the virtues of loyalty, honesty, frugality, adaptability, independence, self-reliance, how to balance a checkbook, spend no more than you earn, perseverance and responsibility to self and others. Oh, and take care of your teeth and feet – spend money on good reliable shoes.

Marjorie respected her marriage vows, till death do we part, was a true partner in life with her husband Jack and supported him throughout their lives together.

She loved being a good mother and supportive wife, finding enjoyment creating memories and traditions while raising a daughter and three sons.

She loved to explore historic places and the outdoors – Kettle Moraine areas east of Fond du Lac, Mauthe and Round Lakes, the Ledge area along the east side of Lake Winnebago as well as exploring historic and natural areas in Texas and Louisiana during life in Beaumont, Texas.

She led her life on her own terms, not swayed to the opinions of others.

She had strong ancestral roots in the Fond du Lac County area. Her relatives came from Dutchess and Washington counties in New York State. They came to farm the land in Lamartine, Empire and Byron Townships within the county from the early 1860’s to about 1895 eventually retiring to the city of Fond du Lac at the turn of the century.

Marjorie’s children would like to express many thanks to Dyonne Wilhelm and her administrative staff at Elaine’s Hope Memory Care as well as front line Resident Attendants and support teams responsible for the daily care of their mother, Marjorie, including her final days. RA’s Lourdes and Alicia held a special place in Marjorie’s heart for their kindness, patience and unlimited help. Alicia would engage her in a bit of dance now and then to keep the feet and brain active. Alicia was the one who referred to Marjorie as “My Little Miss Perky”, an endearment that always brought a smile and laugh to Marjorie’s day.

Mom, we love you and miss you deeply. We miss your laugh. We miss your giggle. We’re sure Dad asked you, “What took you so long?” We hope that you and Dad are dancing, not resting, in peace!

Marjorie Lou Sommerfeld – always kind, always loving, always smiling, always perky – for more than 99 years…