Winifred "Winnie" Tegge

Winifred (Winnie) Tegge

Beloved mother, grandmother and friend to many, passed away peacefully on Tuesday December 7, 2021, in Stillwater, Minnesota. She was 98 years old.

An animal lover with an outgoing, gregarious personality, Winnie was born Winifred Halvorson on February 23, 1923, in Clitherall, MN, to parents Hattie and Stillman Halvorson. She was the youngest of six sisters and one brother, and lost her mother when she was only a year old. She was raised on the family farm by her father and her elder siblings.  Winnie’s tales of growing up in a Swedish/Norwegian-speaking community, attending a one-room schoolhouse, and surviving being lost in a snowstorm on the way home from school (and rescued by dogs) read like many tales of her generation. Growing up in a strict Norwegian-Lutheran household, she found her own entertainment by sewing, reading, and playing practical jokes on her siblings.

After high school, Winnie came to Washington DC to be a nanny for her sister Alyce’s children, then at age 19 she became a phone operator. When WW2 began, she was employed as a phone operator at the high-security Army Intelligence Training Center at Indianhead Maryland, being driven to work by limousine and watched over by armed guards. Her years in DC during the war were filled with adventures and opportunities, including ballroom dancing with soldiers, celebrities, and politicians. After the war she took art classes and worked as a night phone operator at the Shoreham Hotel in DC, where she met Lt. Commander Harry Tegge, the hotel manager, and married him.

Winnie and Harry raised three daughters in their home in DC, and she was known for both her sense of style and her commitment to her family. As an accomplished seamstress, she sewed robes for the entire church youth choir, dresses for her daughters, and enjoyed the art of millinery-- making her own hats. She volunteered as a Girl Scout Troop leader, including many rainy weekend camping trips in leaky pup tents. Every year, Winnie and the three girls traveled—by train, bus, or car—to her sister Bernice’s farm in North Dakota for most of the summer. Cousins, aunts, and many animals spent summers together and made memories to last a lifetime.

As a newly single woman with all her daughters out of high school, Winnie moved to Shepherdstown, West Virginia and began a new career selling country real estate, driving her Mercedes over mountain roads in the rain and fog. Over the course of 16 years, she became a top selling agent in the tri-state area of WV-MD-VA. She lived in a variety of interesting old homes, most dating to pre-Civil War times, with secret stairways and the ghosts of Union soldiers from the nearby Antietam battlegrounds. Winnie also served as the Police Commissioner and was a charter member of the Developmental Authority of the state of WV. She was known for her hard work, honesty and flair for hosting the best cocktail parties in town, introducing clients to neighbors and friends, and always making real estate deals over dessert.  Winnie always had at least two or three dogs at any one time, taking in strays and dogs from people moving away, including a Basset/bloodhound mix and a retired race greyhound simply named “70” for her tattooed back.

Upon retiring from real estate, Winnie returned to the Midwest to be near her sisters. She lived in Casselton, ND and spent time with her daughter Carol in Stillwater, MN. During this time, she traveled with her sisters Bernice and Katherine and daughters Laura and Suzy to Europe and specifically Sweden, to meet with relatives and speak the language again. Winnie often drove to visit her sister Katherine in Florida for the winter. Gradually downsizing to apartment life, she always had a cat, up until her most recent move in 2021. Winnie moved into Boutwells Landing almost 15 years ago and made many friends playing bridge, volunteering in the Market, and bartending for the Steamboat Lounge. In recent years she made the transition to Assisted Living and lived in the Gables Care Center for the last year of her life.

Winnie was one of a kind. She was always well-dressed-- “stylish, fashionable,” her friends called her. She loved her pets and gave generously to the Humane Society. She remained in close touch with her older sisters as they all lived long lives into their 90’s, Winnie outliving them all. Her last big trip was in 2019 to visit her sister Katherine in Texas, as they were 96 and 98 years old, respectively. She continued to keep in touch with her nieces and nephews to her last days.

Winnie is survived by her three daughters, Laura (Robert) Higgs, of Cape Coral, FL, Carol (Thomas) Insley, Lake Elmo, MN, and Suzy (Joseph Irvin) of Madison, WI. She has three grandchildren, Sara (Art) Kalbhenn, Thomas Higgs, and Aaron Insley; two great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her siblings: Margaret (Ross) Jacobson, Bernice (Carl) Cramer, Alyce (Charles) Saylor, William (Lorraine) Halvorson, Norma Halvorson, and Katherine (Max) Woodard; her former husband Harry Tegge, and her grandson Richard Insley. A summer 2022 Celebration of Life and interment will be held in Stillwater, MN for family and friends.

Friends could make a donation to their local animal shelter in her name or support Granite House, a nonprofit group home in Stillwater where her grandson, Aaron lives.