Siegfried Bernhardt [obituary]
The Trimont Progress, Friday, May 11, 1979

TRIMONT–Service for Siegfried Bernhardt, 62, of Cedar Township will be 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Trinity Lutheran Church here with gravesite rites by the American Legion at Cedar Lutheran Cemetery in Cedar Township.
Mr. Bernhardt died of cancer Thursday at his farm home. Visitation is today and until Saturday noon at Kramer Funeral Home here and one hour prior to service at the church.
He was born March 29 1917 at Trimont. He married Viola Breitbarth April 20, 1941 at Trimont. He had farmed in Cedar Township since 1950. He was a member of the Trimont Co-op Association, serving as president for 21 years. He was on the Renville Transport Board for ten years, pas commander of American Legion Post 373, and served with the U.S. Army in the Asiatic Pacific during World War II.
Survivors include his wife; sons, Terry of Redwood Falls and Kevin of Trimont; daughter, Mrs. Robert (Angela) Carlson of Sherburn; nine grandchildren; brothers Emil of Trimont and Henry of Mountain Lake; sisters Mrs. Carl Nordstrom and Mrs. Vernon Love, both of Trimont; Mrs. Cornie Hubers of Fairmont; Mrs. Oliver McManimen of Prescott, Arizona; Mrs. Esther Dwight of Windom; Mrs. Francis Hughes of Cave Junction, Oregon; Mrs Arnold Sandersfeld of Welcome.

Grandpa B.
My great-grandfather Heinrich Andreas Bernhardt was born February 2, 1876 in Eckernförde, Schleswig-Holstein. At age 15, he joined his older brother, Daniel, in Iowa. On May 19,1898, in Ida Grove, Iowa, he and my great-grandmother Anna Maria Louise Ossenschmidt Utesch (born October 19, 1877 in Osnabrüch) were married. In 1913, Henry and Anna and their children moved to Triumph, Minnesota.

My grandfather Siegfried (Sief) was born to Anna and Henry March 29, 1917.

In the late 1930's, August and Alvina Breitbarth moved their family, including daughter Viola, to a farm west of Monterey, Minnesota in Cedar Township, Martin County.

Siegfried Harold Bernhardt married Viola Alma Breitbarth April 20, 1940. He joined the U.S. Army before Pearl Harbor. He served as a Master Sergeant in the mechanic group of the 632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion, Sixth U.S. Army. The 632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion fought in New Guinea, Leyte, and Luzon.

Siegfried and Vi's first child, my father, Terence Siegfried Bernhardt, was born in Triumph, Minnesota March 2, 1943.

Grandpa's younger brother, Danny Bernhardt, was killed in action in the only combat on American soil during World War II, May 29, 1943 on the Aleutian Island of Attu.

Siegfried and Vi's second child, my aunt Angela, was born December 7, 1945.

When grandpa mustered out of the army and returned to Triumph, Minnesota, he and Grandma bought a parcel of farmland from his dad and built a house there, at 61 East Chestnut Street, partially from lumber salvaged from his dad's farm and from old barracks in Fairmont, because lumber was in such short supply after the war.

Siegfried and Vi's youngest child, my uncle Kevin, was born August 8, 1949.

In 1950, Vi's parents August and Alvina Breitbarth moved to the house Siegfried and Vi had built at 61 Chestnut Street in Triumph, and Siegfried and Vi moved to August and Alvina's farm in Cedar Township.

Siegfried's mother, Anna, died August 19 of that year and was laid to rest at Elm Creek Cemetery three miles south of Trimont.

Siegfried's father, Henry, died January 9, 1955 and was laid to rest next to Anna. The same year, Siegfried was elected president of the Martin County Co-op Association board of directors, which he held until illness forced him to resign in 1977.

Grandpa died May 10, 1979. His funeral at Trinity Lutheran Church in Trimont was attended by more than 500 people. Cedar Lutheran Cemetery stands about two miles west of Grandpa and Grandma's farm place in Cedar Township.