Daphne Wittmer

Funeral services for Daphne J. (Wangen) Wittmer, 89, of Albert Lea, Minnesota will be held Saturday August 28, 2021 at 10 am at Bayview/Freeborn Funeral Home. Pastor Matt Lehman will officiate. Visitation will be held 1 hour prior to the service at the funeral home. The service will be live-streamed via www.bayviewfuneral.com.

Daphne was born on February 3, 1932 in Albert Lea with her twin brother Daryl to Gustave and Inez (Quam) Wangen.  She was baptized by Rev. Sigurd Sorenson, confirmed and married by the Rev. Dr. Melford S. Knutson at First Lutheran Church of Albert Lea.  A 1950 graduate of Albert Lea, she was joined in marriage to Marvin Wittmer on June 14, 1953.  From this union they were blessed with five children.

Daphne loved the farm life and assisted her husband and children with developing the Wittmer homestead into a Grade A dairy farm. She was an active member of Concordia Lutheran Church serving as an 8th grade Sunday School teacher, Jr. Lutheran teacher, a member of the Concordia Choir, Mission Circle and Ladies Aid. Daphne was a busy mother balancing community activity while maintaining a 30-year job in the workforce.  She attended her children’s 4-H activities as an adult leader, their sports games, and band concerts while serving two terms as PTA Secretary of the Alden/Conger Schools.  After moving off the farm, Daphne cultivated a garden of violets in her home and loved gifting them to friends and neighbors.  Being an avid reader, you’d find her collection of history books and biographies lining her bookshelves.  After becoming a widow, Daphne wrote and published her own life story – Scarred For Life – Healed For Eternity.  She was a hairdresser by nature and used her skills to cut, perm, and style her family’s hair, and friends as well.  Drawing was another love of Daphne’s and she was honored to receive blue ribbons for her publicly exhibited portraits.  She loved traveling as her children moved state to state throughout the country, but the highlight of her life was her “Reformation Tour of Europe”. Daphne’s skill for photography was apparent when she brought home the sights of Europe in over 700 photos.

Daphne is survived by her children; Lynn (Rev. Steven) Lunning, Mark, Karen and Dean; grandchildren, Julia (Robert) Hoover, Andrew (Stephanie) Lunning, and Julie (Jesse) Lindahl, great grandchild Henry Hoover, daughter-in-law Brenda Wittmer, brother, LaMar (Donna) Wangen; sister, LaMone (Gary) Nelson; several nieces and grandnieces and nephews, and many other loving relatives and friends.

Preceding Daphne in death are her husband, Marvin; son, Bryan; grandsons, Joseph Bryan Wittmer and Philip Ian Lunning, brother Daryl Wangen and parents and parents-in-law.

Memorials are preferred to the American Cancer Society.

God bless her memory.