WIlliam Ehrenberg

William H. “Bill” Ehrenberg Jr., 70, St. Joseph Mi. May 22, 1939 – February 14, 2010 William H. “Bill” Ehrenberg Jr., 70, of St. Joseph passed away peacefully on Sunday morning, Feb. 14, 2010 at his winter residence in Fernandina Beach Florida. A service celebrating his life will be held at 11:00 am, Friday Feb. 19th at Trinity Lutheran Church, St. Joseph. Burial will follow at Riverview Cemetery. Visitation will be held on Thursday, Feb. 18th from 5:00 – 7:00 pm at Starks & Menchinger Funeral Home. Memorials may be made to the Community Hospice of Jacksonville Florida and Berrien County Cancer Service. Bill was born on May 22, 1939 in St. Joseph where he was a lifelong resident. He was the second child of six children born to Duke and Dorothy Ehrenberg. After working for and with his father since he was 15 years old, Bill started his own Amoco Service Station (I94 exit 27) business in 1963. He moved his business in 1980 to its Niles Road location across from the marina. There he turned Lousman’s Junkyard into the proud independent business “empire” of Ehrenberg’s Service Center until he retired in 2000. He also proudly served his country in the Michigan National Guard and was called up for duty during the Detroit race riots in 1967. After retiring he could not sit still, and wanted to be out in the community. While in “retirement”, he work for Berrien County Parks where he proudly drove the beach sweeper maintaining Silver Beach, picking up all the “treasures” left behind for 2 years until he reluctantly had to give in to growing health problems. Bill, being a child of a former Mayor of St. Joseph, didn’t just live in St. Joseph. He was a part of St. Joseph. Graduating from St. Joseph High School in 1957, he went on to Valparaiso University where he met the love of his life and partner Barbara Anne Coddington. Barb and Bill married on April 14, 1963. Bill worked hard on his business, working on cars during the day and towing cars at all hours of the night on a moments notice. Being the living example to his three children of the value of God, family, hard work and the value of the dollar. Bill was at his best when socializing with the many friends he has collected and enjoyed throughout his life. Bill loved to fish, hunting, researching family history, traditional country music and going to breakfast with his buddies. Bill was always a loyal friend, helping anyone any way he could. Bill is survived by his wife, Barb Ehrenberg; his children, Sue (Tony) Tringali, Joe (Suzie) Ehrenberg, Katie (Mike) Jones; his grandchildren, Alex Jones, Thomas Tringali, Emma Tringali and Molly Jones; and by his siblings Jan (Bill) Metzger, Chris (Hank) Ehrenberg, and Bob (Cindy) Ehrenberg. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his sister Mary Murphy and his brother James (Jeep) Ehrenberg.