Posted 01-30-07 (thanks to Phyllis (Mintz) Eisenberg) for providing this obituary
MADISON – Eleanor O’Sheridan Dahle, age 95, passed away on Friday, Dec. 15, 2006, at the Don and Marilyn Anderson HospiceCare Center. The lifetime Madison resident was the daughter of Philip and Katherine Foley O’Sheridan. She was descended from Madison pioneers Daniel O’Sheridan and Katherine Bresland O’Sheridan, for whom O’Sheridan and Bresland Streets on the south side of Madison are named. Eleanor attended Longfellow and Saint Raphael Elementary Schools, graduated from Edgewood High School in 1929 and attended the University of Wisconsin. Her academic prowess allowed her to skip two semesters during her early school years. She married Herman B. Dahle in 1937. During her long career with the state of Wisconsin, she worked many years in the Unemployment Compensation Department. After the State Office Building relocated to Madison’s west side, she was happily able to walk to work from her Owen Drive home, where she lived for more than 50 years. Herman and Eleanor were long-time active members of Bethel Lutheran Church, where they both participated in many wonderful and personally enriching activities. Eleanor was a member of the Endeavor Circle and Bible Study and she spent many hours volunteering at the Parish Shop. She created beautiful braided rugs with assistance and instruction from both a Bethel rug making group and Vocational School. An interest in theater often led her to volunteer and usher for various Madison theatrical productions. At home, she happily devoted many hours to flower and vegetable gardening. Her Irish heritage endowed her a lively sense of humor and she was fond of Irish music, which Herman would often play on the family piano. Eleanor’s husband of 45 years, Herman Dahle; her two brothers, Francis O’Sheridan and Robert O’Sheridan; and her sister-in-law, Myrtle O’Sheridan, preceded her in death. She is survived by her daughters, Grace Muirhead of Murphys, Calif. and Hope Bakken of Madison; her sons-in-law, Franklin Muirhead and Jim Bakken; four granddaughters, Jenifer (David) Wines of Moraga, Calif., Kristine (Jack) Milner of St. Louis, Mo., Anne Gelhaus of San Jose, Calif. and Ellen (Richard) Schmidt of Cleveland, Ohio; and seven great-grandchildren, Alexander and Natalie Wines, John and Kate Milner and George, Joe and Sam Schmidt. The family extends sincere gratitude to the Don and Marilyn Anderson HospiceCare Center for their extraordinary care, to the skilled and compassionate staff at Meriter Hospital and to granddaughter Jenifer Wines and special friend, Kolleen Kuran for their generous and loving devotion. A memorial service will be held at BETHEL LUTHERAN CHURCH, 312 Wisconsin Ave., on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2007, at 10:30 a.m. in the GOOD SHEPHERD CHAPEL, with Pastor Bill White and HospiceCare Chaplain Steve Zwettler officiating. Friends may greet the family from 10 a.m. until the time of service. A private family burial service was held at Resurrection Cemetery. The family requests that memorials be made to Bethel Lutheran Church Media Ministry, HospiceCare Inc. and Edgewood High School. Cress Funeral and Cremation Service 3610 Speedway Road (608) 238-3434 http://www.cressfuneralservice.com