Connie L. Berchem
October 23, 2010
Date of Birth: August 9, 1952 Date of Death: October 23, 2010 Beloved Wife, Mom, Grandma, Dear Friend - Age 58, of Forest Lake, passed away peacefully at home October 23, 2010. Preceded in death by her guardian angel and son who waited for her in heaven, Kyle Hill, parents, Winford and Lorraine Michaud and beloved sister, Bonnie. Survived by husband, Maurie; daughter and son-in-law, Jessie (Chris) Rahmeyer; grandchildren, Ashley and Austin; other relatives and dear friends. Founding Board Member of Lung Cancer Support Community. Connie, along with former Gov. Jesse Ventura, named November as Lung Cancer Awareness Month. She also founded the Lung Cancer Support Group at Regions. Celebration of Life Connies life will be celebrated from 4-8 PM on Tuesday, Nov. 30th at Roberts Family Funeral Home, 555 Centennial Dr. SW, Forest Lake, MN. In lieu of flowers, memorials to Regions Foundation/Lung Cancer Support Group, Mail Stop 11202C, 640 Jackson St. St. Paul, MN 55101 Please note the date and time of Connies Celebration of Life.
I went to high school with Connie and was so sadden to her of her passing. She was Amazing person and friend she was so mature for her age. smart funny and had a quick wit about her if you were lucky to be her friend she was loyal. So Glad to see Her Best friend Kathy Russell at her side. I was so pleased to see she had started up a Support group for Lung Cancer . She was a leader!! God Bless her and her Family.
Dear Maurie and family,
How saddened we are to say goodbye to such a wonderful lady and neighbor. She was a special lady, and she will be greatly missed. May God comfort you with His peace during this difficult time, and may you find joy in all the wonderful memories of your happy times together. Maurie, you were an amazing caretaker!!
Blessings,
Bonnie & Gary
In the short time that we have known Connie we have felt like family. The precious memories of times we spent together will be treasured in our hearts forever. We Love you Connie and miss you dearly. God Bless You and God Bless Maurie and family.
There are no words to express the sense of loss in my heart. Life is full of passages and along the way, if we are fortunate enough, a friend like Connie will pass through. She was my “rock” during the darkest hours of dealing with my lung cancer. Many a day I would be in that “dark hole” and she would always throw me the “rope” and pull me out. Connie was an angel to many of us when we couldn’t fly and she carrried us with love and compassion until we could spread our wings once again. I will miss her friendship, laughter, endurance, strength and willingness to help others even through her own adversity and pain. Our sincere condolences go out to you, Maurie, the ultimate caregiver for so many years and we pray that God will grant you the courage to deal with the emptiness and loss of your mate. We offer our deepest sympathy to Jessie and her family for the loss of your mother and grandmother to Ashley and Austin. May Connie forever rest in peace.
To Our Dear Friend Connie;
We will miss you so. You always had a smile no matter what and made each day such a joy. We all became fast friends, you, Maurie, Dick and myself. We love you.
Our thoughts are with you Maurie and family
I am so sorry for your loss. Connie was such a special lady,She made Wendy and i feel so welcome at lung cancer support group.
She truly made this world a better place.
How Wendy cherrished their lunch buddy outings,Iam sure they are again
Angels do walk among us and Connie was living proof of that. She was there for so many with her smiles and encouragment.
Her fun and loving spirit will carry on in our hearts forever. We will miss you our dear and longtime friend. Our memories of our special times together will have to sustain us until we meet again.
You walk with Kyle now and Jesus.
My prayers for peace in your heart go out to Maurie,Jess, and Grandchildren. She loved you very much as I know you loved her.
We will always remember Connie’s smile, her humor, little surprises that would come in the mail, and her genuine love for friends and strangers wherever she traveled. We only knew her a short time at Big River, but she made us feel like we had known her forever. God speed Connie, and God bless Maurie and your family.
My condolences to the family , she was a wonderful lady, always there when you needed her, my good friend for years, I’ll think of her often, and I’ll keep the family in my heart forever.
Don & Cynthia Marx
North Branch, MN
We will definitely miss Connie – her smiling face, her friendliness, her postitive attitude, her kindness to us in the lab, the treats she used to bring for us. Our genuine sympathy and thoughts go out to her whole family
Maurie & family,
We are so sorry to hear of Connie’s passing. She was a wonderful person, full of life & laughs in spite of her problems. Always remember the good times. They will be with you forever.
Irv & Sheilagh (Quail Run/2009)
We met Connie at her winter home in Arizona, and while we were only together a few times Connie’s spirit was strong and her light always shined bright. The world will be a little darker without her.
Our condolences to Maurie and family, and to all the folks that loved Connie.
Diane has kept us up to date on everything with Connie, and our hearts and prayers have been with each of you every day. Diane has forwarded yothe emails you sent out, and I have found myself crying as I read them. I so hate to see Connie gone from this earth, as she was such a wonderful person, but I am glad she no longer has to suffer. I know your hearts are aching, and I wish I could make that different, but it is a tribute to your love for each other. She is at peace and watching over all of us everyday, now, and you know she is smiling her beautiful smile. Our love and prayers, David and Renee Berthiaume
I have known Connie for 11years. When I was told I had Lung Cancer, I joined her group and have survivored small cell Lung
cancer. She was a real inspiration to me and many others in our
group. We will all miss her. She was a great lady. Our thoughts
are with you Morrie,Jessie and grandchildren.
Deepest Sympathy for your loss. Connie was such a wonderful person and will be missed!
Maurie, Jess and family….
It will be the little things
that you will remember,
the quiet moments,
the smiles, the laughter.
And although it may seem
hard right now,
it will be the memories
of these little things
that help to push
away the pain
and bring the smiles
back again.
Connie was my dearest and oldest friend, I will truely miss her.
Kathy
Even though we met only a handful of times. I enjoyed every minute we had laughing and talking. You and Maurie are considered family. I wish we could have spent more time together. I know you’re in a better place, but you will be missed here. We’ll have another “bon fire” up in Heaven! You touched everyone’s heart you met.
Dear Connie: When we met you at Big River, we knew we would be friends for life. Your wonderful smile, your caring for others, and your dignity in the face of all you’ve gone through will stay with us forever.You will always have a special place in our hearts. Our sincere condolences to Maurie and all of Connie’s family. We hope that you will find comfort in knowing how much Connie was loved and will be missed.
Maurie & family,
We are so saddened by the loss of Connie..she always had a smile on her face and made us laugh until our stomachs hurt! We will have such fond memories of her as we know all of you will.
She is pain free and peaceful now.
She fought a great fight and brought so much awareness to lung cancer by helping others. We know you took such good care of her these last few months.. we love you and wish we could be closer. We are praying for all of you..
With love,
Mark & Marcie Ulrich
Connie, even though we knew you for a short time while rv”ing, we will miss you immensly.
When Syd was sick you were there to comfort.
When Pat didn’t feel well you were there to comfort.
Comforting seemed to be your destination in life.
Again, we miss you so much.
Good-bye dear Friend
Connie, even though we only new you for such a short time one summer, we will certainly miss you immensly.
When Syd got sick, you were there to comfort.
When I didn’t feel well, you wee there to comfort.
good-bye Dear Friend.
My deepest condolences Jessie to you and your family.
I am so very saddened to hear of your Mom’s passing. My thoughts & prayers are with you. God Bless!
I know of the hole in your heart. But all we can do is put our self in Gods hands.
Connie was a big help to Linda and my self .
My condolences to Maurie and Family
To my dear friend Connie – You will be missed so much by all the people you ever meet, because that’s all it took once you meet Connie you where a friend and it seemed that you knew her for ever. Now she will be helping in another place. Thank you so much for being my friend and helping me when I needed it. Love and miss you. My condolences to Maurie, Jessie and grandkids and the rest of Connie family she will be dearly missed.
Connie,I miss you so much you’ll never know. I have such a big hole in my heart I don’t know if it’ll ever fix itself I so much miss taking care of you. I tried so hard this time to fix you but I failed. I am so sorry. I’ll love you forever. Maurie
What can I say about Connie. She had helped my so much when I needed it the most. Her dedication was immeasurable….
She will be missed by so many people she touched. She touched me and I miss her so much.
My deepest condolences goes out to her wonderfu husband Maurie,l family and friends.
Rest in peace my friend…
I am so very saddened to hear of Connie’s passing. She was an inspiration to all of us. My thoughts & prayers are with her family . May God bless them now and always.
Ken Hearrean
Connie – My friend, my hero – you gave me love and support when I had no where to turn. You held open your heart and your experiences and all that you had to help me and others – especially on the LCA site – where 100’s of people are so saddened by your passing. I remember our phone conversations – you always had a cheerful love that you shared so freely with me and others – you are now in God’s House – with all of our other angels – I will miss your positive happy disposition and the world is a smaller place without you. I will miss you.
love Karen
My deepest condolences to Connie’s family and friends. I knew Connie from the Lung Cancer Support Community where she was always encouraging, supportive and loving. We will miss her.
Dear Connie,
You were such a constant in my life and the lives of so many others.It’s so hard to imagine a world without you and the brilliant light you shone.
Thank you for being my friend-Rest In Peace
beloved Friend.
Comfort to all friends and family.
Love, Betsy
Connie was a such a blessing! She touched us with hope & inspiration and I hold her dear in my heart. I will take her positive outlook wherever I go & will never forget her fighting survivor spirit!! You are an angel, dear Connie, and you are very much loved.
Connie has been such a friend, support, educator, advocator for so many of us. We will miss her so much. May the peace of our loving Lord be with Maurie and your family during this difficult time. I know she is there with him and her family who preceded her.
Love Donna
I thank you Connie and I thank God for you. I will never forget the support and encouragement that you gave to me when I was first diagnosed with lung cancer and I wa so very scared. My thoughts and prayers to your family during this very sad time. I will never forget you. Again, thank you Connie and I thank God that you were there for me.
My dear dear friend- I will miss you so much. My days will be long without your laughter and friendship in it. My heartfelt condolences to Maurie, Jessie and your beloved grandkids.
God bless your soul. May you be wrapped in the warmth of God, the love and familiar arms of your parents, sister and son.
You’ll never fully know how much you touched and changed us.
Love you always,