On November 19, 2015, Victoria Graf was given her well deserved angel wings as her spirit was passed on to reside with God and Jesus. Vicki was 103 years old and lived an amazing life. Her faith in God and Jesus was always very obvious and she relied on that faith to take her through life.
Vicki was born on May 21, 1912 in the village of Zittau, and at the home/business of her parents, Margaret (Kregel) Becker and Art Becker. Their business was Becker's General Store & Tavern and growing up there had a huge impact on her, her twin brother, and their four younger siblings over the early years. She got her early Christian education at Immanual Lutheran Church in Zittau. She was also influenced by her mother who was a teacher at the school across the street and was blessed with a zeal for learning and desire to obtain an education.
Vicki moved from home at the age of 14 in order to attain further education. She first lived with a family in Weyauwega and worked as a nanny while going to school but later moved to Oshkosh to do the same. She graduated from Oshkosh High School in 1930. She attended Concordia College in New Alm, Minnesota and later transferred to Oshkosh Business College and graduated in 1935. She was employed as a Book Keeper and Accountant at various businesses: Campfire Girls organization, Keen Line Conveyors, and Lakeview Cemetery and did income taxes for many people. She also was the designated book keeper and tax person for some of her sibling's businesses.
She met Nyal Graf in High School and while working at Stillman Hardware; they married on April 18, 1940. They lived in Oshkosh their entire marriage and gave birth to two daughters. They were long time members at Martin Lutheran Church but when Nyal died of Leukemia in 1974, Vicki joined a couple other more non-denominational churches. She was an original founder and a longtime member of HIS Church on north Jackson St. Besides volunteering at her church, she was on one of the original Board of Directors for Bethel Home, and did patient visitation at Bethel as well as Parkview. At age 95 she once said it was hard losing 'her patients' because they were much younger than she.
She resided at Lutheran Homes of Oshkosh since 2007, residing first at Carmel, later at Gabriel's Villa, and most recently at Eden Meadow. Her family expresses a huge thank you for their care of her and particularly the entire staff at Eden Meadow West as they were awesome in the TLC of Vicki.
Vicki is survived by her two daughters, Margaret Ernst of Oakland, CA, and Christine Graf of Hillsboro, OR, by two granddaughters, Sara of CA, and Beth (Jesse) Kordong of Woodbury, MN and one Greatgrandson, Justin. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews and especially Jan and Verne Olson who were blessed to serve as overseerers of her care as she aged. She is also survived by friends, the Lewis family who remained her longtime friends, Ellen Niemuth , and her Godson, Ky (Kelly) Rasmussen.
She was preceeded in death by her husband Nyal, and all her siblings and their spouses: her twin brother Victor (Bernice) Becker, her brother Carlton (Velma) Becker, her sisters Agnes (Harold) Wilson, Jeannette (Walter) Dietrich, and Evangeline (Jim) Christensen; her sister-in-law and spouse RoseMary Graf (Jack) Price.
A funeral service for Vicki will be held on Monday, November 23, 2015, at Lake View Cemetery Chapel, at 11:00 a.m., with Pastor Kevin Heffernan officiating, and a committal service to follow. Memorial donations are welcome to Lutheran Homes of Oshkosh Foundation or to International Children's Fund.