Arlene Hirsbrunner, age 100, passed away peacefully on the family farm in Wiota Township in Lafayette County, WI on Monday, April 29, 2019. Arlene, beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend, and the kindest woman you ever met was born in 1918 at the time the Spanish Flu was ravaging the world. She weighed in at 3 pounds but full of fight.
Arlene was the daughter of Oscar and Olga (Peterson) Hexom. Her mother, succumbed to the flu three days after Arlene was born. Her father Oscar, quickly realized that a farmer alone on the farm with two other small children could not raise a very small infant by himself and so Arlene was placed in the care of her aunt and uncle; Bert and Alma Carpenter. As a result, Arlene knew the happiness of growing up with two families in her life. She found a third family when she met and later married Robert “Bob” Hirsbrunner, a farmer, on February 12, 1941. Together they had two children: Donna Bahler of Monroe, WI (Alan Gibbs, Rockford, IL), and Richard (Nancy) Hirsbrunner of Richland Center, WI.
During her life she did work occasionally off the farm in a variety of jobs in the Darlington and Monroe areas such as housekeeper, sales clerk, waitress, and factory worker. She was also involved with helping at school, working at the church, and helping friends and neighbors with various chores where she excelled in wallpapering. The family lived a typical difficult but rewarding lifestyle on the family farm during the Great Depression and WWII in Lafayette County and were both fortunate enough to spend their final days on their beloved farm surrounded by family, friends, and caregivers. Arlene was not surprisingly, the oldest member of Immanuel United Church of Christ in Darlington where she was a founding family of the church.
Arlene will be missed by her children: Richard and Donna; her two grandsons: Richard of Richland Center and Robert of Dubuque; and four great-grandchildren: Danielle, Kelsey, Gavin and MaryJane; and three sisters-in-law: Rosemary Edwards, Shirley VonGlahn, and Marian Swenson. She was preceded in death by her husband Bob in 2012; her 4 parents; a grandson: Dustin; and her brothers and sisters: Harold Carpenter, Lavern Carpenter; Inez Mueller, Shirley Schwartz, Marie Krauss, and Clifford Hexom.
A funeral service will be held Saturday, May 4, 2019 at 1:00 P.M. at Immanuel United Church of Christ (339 E. Louisa St., Darlington) with Rev. Barbara Brakey officiating. Burial will be in Union Grove Cemetery. A visitation will be held Saturday, May 4, 2019 from 11:00 A.M. until the time of services at the church. The Erickson Funeral Home in Darlington is serving the family. Online condolences may be expressed to the family atwww.ericksonfuneralhome.com
The family would like to extend a special thank you to St. Croix Hospice Center in Platteville for all of their care and assistance, and a very special thank you to four heroic main caregivers that have been with Arlene and Bob for over 20 years: Nancy Johnson, Janet Ihus, Lynn Olson and Shirley Long.
