Fern earned an RN degree and began a career in nursing and laboratory work, first in the Dakotas and then in Dallas, Texas.Īfter meeting and falling in love with the young bandleader, Lawrence Welk, Fern faced a critical life decision. Contrary to the times, she believed in educating both her sons and daughters and made sure that all her children had advanced degrees. The farm succeeded with the help of her older children and she invested her profits in the stock market, an unheard of enterprise for a woman of her generation and rural location. In the years after her father's death, Fern's mother was a tower of strength, with management skills and a brilliant financial mind. Fern's long and productive life spanned the entire 20th Century and she was called upon to meet unimaginable and untested challenges.

Fern was the 98 year old matriarch of the Welk family and wife of the legendary orchestra leader and television star, Lawrence Welk. In a statement released to the press, family members remembered her as a source of strength, wisdom, forgiveness and abiding love to all who knew her, noting that her spiritual gifts will remain a rich legacy for both her family and friends. Eight of her siblings died while Fern was still a child, and her beloved father died when she was just 4 years old.

She was born on August 26, 1903, the 13th of 14 children born to Elizabeth and Mathias Renner, an immigrant family in St. Fern was buried beside her husband in Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Culver City, California. Renner Welk, 98, passed away peacefully on Februin a Santa Monica hospital.

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