BLAIRSTOWN:  Berenice M. Risdal, age 80, died Monday, January 1, 2007 at the Keystone Nursing Care Center in Keystone following an extended illness.
     Services will be held at 1:30 PM, Thursday, January 4, 2007 at Grace Lutheran Church in Blairstown with Rev. David Rempfer officiating. Interment will be held at the Luzerne Lutheran Cemetery in Luzerne.  Friends may call at Phillips Funeral Home in Blairstown from 4 to 7 PM on Wednesday.  A Memorial Fund has been established for Grace Lutheran Church..
     Berenice was born June 17, 1926 in rural Blairstown to Charles and Anna (Rieck) Schultz and graduated from the Blairstown High School in 1942. 
     She married Blaine C. Risdal at Grace Lutheran Church in Blairstown on October 5, 1945.  The couple farmed northwest of Blairstown and as a busy farm wife and mother, Berenice served as a 4-H Leader and on the 4-H County Committee for several years.  The couple retired and moved to Blairstown in 1983. Blaine preceded her in death on February 1, 1989.
      She was an active member of Grace Lutheran Church where she enjoyed member ship in the Ladies Aid, Fellowship Club and taught Sunday School.
     She is survived by her daughter, Kathryn (Doyle) Witt of Ankeny; and two grandchildren, Daryl (Rachel) Witt of Carlisle and Jennifer Witt of Des Moines; great-granddaughter, Emma Witt of Carlisle, her sisters-in-law, Edna Stien of Newhall, and Eleanor Moeller of Cedar Rapids; her brother-in-law, Milford Risdal and wife, Pat of Marion; and many nieces and nephews.
     In addition to her husband and parents, she was preceded in death by her infant brother, Johnnie Schultz; and two sisters, Norma Wardenburg and Marcella Risdal.