Obituary

William “Bill” Langenberg, age 76, passed away peacefully at his home Saturday April 2nd surrounded by family. He was born in Crookston, Minnesota on June 14, 1939, son of Henry Langenberg and Marguerite McCauley Langenberg. A Navy veteran, Bill was a successful businessman working in the air freight industry for the last 40+ years. He is survived by his wife of fifty-three years, Mari-Lynn Langenberg; two daughters Ingrid Billies and Jennifer Foster; and nine grandchildren, Alex, Ryan, Nicole, Megan, Natalie, Kylee, Emma, Griffin and Paige; by three sisters, Margaret McIntosh, Elizabeth Knox and Louise Smith. He was preceded in death by his parents and his sister Johanna Heer. Always the eternal optimist, Bill had an easy way of connecting with people. As a friend, Bill had the ability to reach out and help others know they were cared for and loved. In turn, he has received the same outpouring reward of having true friends. He touched many lives and will be missed dearly.

Services will be held at St. Timothy Church, Laguna Niguel CA on Friday April 8th at 10:00am. Final resting place will be St. Mary’s Cemetery Winona MN.

In his early years, Bill moved with his family from Crookston to Winona, MN. He first cut his teeth as a salesman working in his father’s clothing store. Following high school, Bill enlisted in the Navy serving on USS Cacapon (AO-52) as a Radarman. After his service, he returned to Minnesota to attend college and graduated from Winona State College. Following college, Bill started his career working at the Northern Engraving Company in Lacrosse, Wisconsin before moving his family to California. Bill broke into the air freight business working at Burlington and Airways and had the good fortune to travel and see the world on numerous occasions with Mari-Lynn. He had a wonderful extended family and maintained close relationships with his air freight colleagues even after starting his own trucking company, Star Courier. A salesman through and through, Bill continued to work after selling his company in the mid 2000’s, selling services for DriveCrash, a data recovery company.

Bill also had a rich personal life, learning to paint with Mari-Lynn. Together, they painted well over 50 beautiful portraits and folk art, several of which have been passed to friends and family. He touched many friends and some relative strangers in his life when he would paint custom art work that touched their own hearts. Bill was also a longstanding and diehard Dodger fan, cheering them on in good times and bad!

While Bill accomplished many things in his life – successful business man, mentor, and painter – at heart, he really was the best family man and father. He shared many wonderful memories from childhood and throughout his life with his all of his extended family members to include numerous summer Family Reunions in Minnesota. Bill remained the “hip” grandfather, maintaining a strong relationship with his children and grandchildren over social media and text (including the numerous inside jokes and selfies J). Even at the very end of his life, Bill retained a grounded sense of humor, always making everyone feel better whenever he engaged them.

Words alone cannot sum up 76 years of greatness or memories of Bill. He was an honest, sincere, thoughtful and kind person, and being that person yielded the legacy of a lifetime. He was a good friend to all he came into contact with and dedicated to his family. His priceless pieces of art will forever be ours to remember how talented he was as a painter, how kind and caring he was as a friend, and how important his family was to him. He will be greatly missed and always be loved.