Eugene Walter Berg

He lived a rich life for more than 99 years. He was born in Dade City, Florida on November 10, 1926. Shortly thereafter, his family moved to Greenwood, Mississippi, before moving to Jackson, Mississippi where he spent his middle and high school years. He was gifted with a green thumb and an incredible mind, which stayed sharp to the end of his life. He started woodworking as a teenager, and all of his family was blessed with at least one of his pieces of handiwork to help us remember him. He served in the Navy in World War II, and when he returned home from the service, earned a chemistry degree from Mississippi College, followed by a PhD in chemistry from University of Texas. Along the way, he married his high school sweetheart, Tharon Pearl Ford on August 8, 1947. He was only 25 years old when he came to teach chemistry at LSU in 1952. His son and two grandsons followed in his footsteps earning chemical engineering degrees from LSU.

Over the years, he added on to the small house multiple times, always doing the work himself. He was skilled enough that he could have been licensed as a Master Electrician, Plumber, Carpenter and Draftsman. And everything was built to the highest of standards, he never, ever took any shortcuts. And somehow in between all his non-work related activities, he taught chemistry, and even published a book, typed out by Tharon on an old Underwood manual typewriter, that is still used by some universities today as a textbook for analytical chemistry. Tharon died suddenly in 1979 after they had been married for 28 years.

He then found the second love of his life, Thelma Irene Pampel, and married her on February 28, 1981, adding two daughters to the family. One could learn so much about love and life just from being around him. He often talked about how blessed he had been having two women he loved so deeply that loved him in the same fashion.

He retired from teaching at LSU at 57, although he continued to teach in other ways the rest of his life. In retirement, he focused on new projects he had constantly going on, his huge garden that provided fresh produce and fruit for so many decades, he kept bees and harvested the wild honey, and then there were his orchids. He put a lot of time and energy into the Baton Rouge Orchid Society, and started a Green Growers group where he and Thelma hosted monthly meetings at their home to introduce new orchid growers to tips and techniques, and was constantly dividing his plants to share with others. His plants regularly won awards at shows, but he was most proud of the new varieties he bred through cross pollination which he registered and named after all his granddaughters.

He designed and built a gazebo that was unique enough at the time that The Advocate came and did a story on it. It gave him a place to display his orchids all summer, and he called it his man cave, because he loved sitting out there surrounded by his plants. Even up to the final months of his life, he was still planting fruit trees that take 5-7 years to bear fruit, and might be found crawling around on all fours in the garden or flower beds pulling weeds. That’s what one would call salt of the earth.

We were all grateful for his late life adoption of Sara Savoy who was his caregiver and like another daughter to him.

He loved all his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. He regularly bragged to people about how many he had, and how proud of them all he was.

He touched so many lives in a positive way, from teaching, whether it be at LSU, in his shop, or in his greenhouse, to serving for many years as a Deacon and Elder at University Presbyterian Church, to the wide circle of friends that he had.

He was the definition of a family Patriarch, and we will all miss his wisdom and counsel. We lost a great husband, father, and an even greater friend.

Rest in peace in God’s arms Gene.

He is survived in death by his wife of 45 years, Thelma Pampel Berg, son Robert Berg and fiancé Tammy Klier, and daughters, Karen Berg, Lisa Shields, Karee Valek, and Sonja Hebert, 11 Grandchildren, and 14 Great Grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents Lawrence J. Berg and Carrie Starry Berg, his first wife Tharon Ford Berg, a brother Lawrence J. Berg, Jr., and a son, John Gregory Berg. The family wants to give special thanks to his best friend, Bob Danka for his continued support. After meeting through Green Growers, Bob and Gene shared many common interests, working on a myriad of projects, and always there to help one another creating an amazing friendship.

A memorial service is being planned for a later date. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Eugene’s memory may be made to University Presbyterian Church at upcbr.org or The Baton Rouge Orchid Society at batonrougeorchidsociety.com/donate.