Earlene (Yoder) Bergwall

Grace Earlene Yoder Bergwall entered this life broken, born with spinabifida. She lived a broken life up to the time Frank Bergwall met her in 1990. They were both broken beyond mending at the time. Frank promised her to take her just as she was if she would take him just as he was. Thirty-two years, 8 months and 29 days after they said “I DO” in Idaho Falls, Earlene chose to leave us behind for a while and go to be with her Daddy, Earl, and her two sons Brandy and Jonathon.

Earlene was born on July 13, 1947, to Earl Edward and Grace May Summers Yoder in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Her sister, Dorothy was born in 1949. She grew up and started a family in Idaho Falls. Her son Paul was born in 1968, son, Branden, was born in 1975, daughter, Lori in 1978 and son, Jonathon was born in 1981. Her son Branden passed in 1980, and Jonathon passed in 1981. No mother should suffer the loss of a child, she lost two within eight months. She survived those losses by clinging to her savior Jesus Christ. She lost her loving daddy, Earl, in 1985.

She was married to Frank Bergwall in 1990 and they merged two broken families into one. Earlene’s daughter Lori gained three sisters and Frankss three daughters gained a “big sister.” Frank moved Earlene and Lori to Carlin, Nevada, where Frank worked in a gold mine. Moving and travelling was part of Frank’s work. They travelled frequently to see Frank’s daughters in California and Arizona, Earlene’s daughter in Washington and Earlene’s mom in Idaho. Earlene loved to take cruise boats to Mexico. Together they took vacations to visit relatives and friends in California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Iowa, Massachusetts and Maine. They went sightseeing all over the western U.S. as Frank worked geology jobs from Montana to Arizona. They lived in Ruth, Nevada, for ten years, returned to Carlin for another ten years, and finally lived in Yuma, AZ for another ten years before Earlene passed.

Her COPD required Earlene and Frank to move to sunny Yuma, Arizona, in 2013. Her health improved with the lower elevation and no winters. Her health declined again in 2021, after numerous hospitalizations from which she did not fully recover. She finally succumbed to COPD and other medical complications on March 28, 2023, in Yuma, Arizona. At 75 years, 8 months and 15 days, she left us to be with her daddy, Earl and her two sons Branden and Jonathon.

Earlene is survived by her son, Paul, 54; her daughter, Lori, 44; step-daughters, Ashley, 43, Lindsay, 41, and Sheena, 39; her sister, Dorothy, 72; and her husband, Frank, 74. Her five children have given Earlene and Frank a total of 16 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.

Graveside services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, April 12, 2023, at Ririe-Shelton Cemetery. The family will visit with friends from 9:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. at Wood Funeral Home, 273 North Ridge Avenue before going to the cemetery. Additional services will be held in Yuma in the near future.