July 12, 1916 - January 10, 2014
Elsie Christine Mathias was born July 12, 1916, in McKinley, Wisconsin, to Frank and Victoria Mathias. She was one of eleven children, with five brothers and five sisters. Her father was a German speaking Lutheran immigrant from the Austro-Hungarian Empire; her mother was a second generation Polish Catholic and spoke primarily Polish. The family lived on a small farm in northern Wisconsin. She was most likely baptized and confirmed in McKinley.
Elsie attended a one room elementary school which was named after her uncle - a Mr. Fehling. It was a family joke that the children went to the Fehling School. She graduated from Cumberland High School, which involved boarding in Cumberland during the week and coming home on weekends.
As a young woman, she moved to Milwaukee to live with her older sister Martha Atsch. When World War Two began, she volunteered for the Women's Army Corps. After basic training in Des Moines, Iowa, she was stationed at Fort Meade, Maryland, where she worked for the Office of Strategic Services, which after the war became the Central Intelligence Agency.
At Fort Meade she met and married Sergeant Guy Sherren. Before leaving the service, she and her sister-in-law Mary Taylor ( a WAVE ) christened the Liberty Ship "Morgantown", which was in part paid for by contributions from children in Morgantown, West Virginia, where her husband's family had been living. (The ship was sunk on its maiden voyage taking supplies to the Pacific for the planned invasion of Japan.) Her son Randolph was born at Fort Meade.
When Guy was mustered our of the Army, the family moved to Milwaukee where their three daughters Christine, Olinda and Elyssa were born. While living in Milwaukee, Elsie worked for the Internal Revenue Service.
In 1954 the Sherren family moved to Nashotah, Wisconsin, where they operated a fishing boat rental and live bait business on Okauchee Lake until 1973. Guy continued to work for Schlitz Brewing and Elsie worked for a while at Brownberry Ovens in Oconomowoc. In 1963 she went to work in the business office of the Wisconsin School for Boys (Ethan Allen School) in Wales, Wisconsin. She worked there until her retirement. While employed at the Boys School she managed the employee credit union, and continued to manage it into her eighties. When Guy and Elsie closed their business, they moved to Stone Bank, Wisconsin.
Elsie was always active at her church, serving in LWML, singing in the choir and playing organ for a few years. She had a good head for figures. She was a meticulous housekeeper, a wonderful cook and baker, and enjoyed growing flowers. She saw to it that her children were interested in music, cultural events, and learning. She instilled in her children a love for reading and doing well in school.
Guy and Elsie loved to cook, bake and go out to eat, often driving fifty miles to go to a special restaurant. They could have written a detailed book on fine dining in southern Wisconsin. Guy passed away in 1995. Elsie continued her social life with her many lady friends who enjoyed going out to eat.
In the early 2000's, Elsie moved to Bloomington, Minnesota, where she becam a member and active volunteer at Berea Lutheran Church. When she could no longer live alone, she moved to Meadow Woods on the Martin Luther Campus in Bloomington.
Elsie passed away the evening of January 10, 2014, at Martin Luther Care Center, secure in her confidence of eternal life in the merit of her Lord Jesus Christ with whom she had walked faithfully her entire life. She was ninety-seven years, five months and twenty-eight days old.
She was preceded in death by her husband, her granddaughter Amber, and all of her siblings but one sister, Margaret. She is survived by her children, Rev. Randolph Sherren and his wife, Judy; Mrs. Christine Wingeier and her husband Ken; Mrs. Olinda Soria and her husband, Carlos; and Mrs. Elyssa Wright and her husband Rick; ten grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren.
"Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on, for they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them." Revelation 14:13