Family Says Goodbye to Father With Farmer’s Tribute

MARSHFIELD, WI (OnFocus) – A Marshfield family gave a special tribute to their father, Ervin Henry Roehrborn, this week as they said goodbye to their beloved family member.

Erv, 85, was born on December 17th, 1936, in Marshfield, WI and passed away January 24th, 2022. He battled a second round of prostate cancer, shortly after losing his wife, Rae, in November 2020.

After leaving the service, Erv met Rae, settled down and opened Roehrborn’s Berry Patch at his parents’ old dairy farm just southwest of Marshfield.

Erv loved being a strawberry farmer and providing amazingly yummy produce to the local communities for 50-plus years. He enjoyed every aspect of owning and running a strawberry farm, especially driving his tractor into late hours of the night. Erv did all the fieldwork, all the while working for Marshfield Homes and later, Wick Building Systems. He retired with 37 outstanding years as a forklift driver.

Erv requested that his family give him a farmer’s tribute before he was laid to rest. The tribute allows the farmer’s body to travel around his/her land one last time. Prior to the funeral service, Erv’s children Andy and Linda organized the tribute with the help of some family, friends and neighbors. The group carefully took Erv and his casket and placed him on a flat-style trailer where he and his family rode around the farm one last time.

The 15-minute ceremony not only helped honor Erv and his request, but it helped the family say goodbye to a man who had built the family farm from the ground up.

“It was just the thought of taking him around one last time because of all the work that they did on this place when they purchased it how many years ago,” Andy said. “It was a junk pile. It was a worn down house and worn down barn, so there was a lot of work that was done on this little, 40-acre farm.”

Andy now runs the Roehrborn Berry Patch to help carry on the memory of Erv and Rae.

“The root of it is to honor him and mom for what they worked so hard for and keep it going,” Andy said. “A lot of people have messaged and have laid out how wonderful either they were or this place is and how fun it is coming out here.”

Erv’s daughter Linda wrote an affectionate tribute to her father in his obituary.

“Erv was a gentle Christian man with a big heart and loving smile,” Linda said. “He was cherished by many and will be deeply missed by his family, friends, strawberry customers, and Zion church family. His family loves him very much and will miss him dearly till they meet again. He is now reunited with Rae in Heaven.”

The full obituary for Erv can be read here.

We welcome your stories! Contact us at [email protected]!