Alice Mae (Reagles) Ingham

Alice Mae (Reagles) Ingham, 94, beloved wife, Mother, Grandmother, Great Grandmother, and Great-great Grandmother, fell asleep in Christ on January 2, 2022, at Hearten House #2 in La Crosse, WI, surrounded in her last days by her loving sons, daughter, their spouses, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

She is survived by two sons, Steven Lee (and Patti) Reagles (Mankato, MN), Timothy John (and Jackie) Reagles (Holmen), and one daughter, Kim Ann (and Tim) Fiebig (La Crescent, MN); eleven grand-children {and their spouses} [Elizabeth (Reagles) {and Lynn} Bruns, Jennifer (Reagles) {and David} Preus, Robert {and Amber} Reagles, Kristy (Reagles) {and Tommy} Gordon, Stephanie (Reagles) {and Travis} Loeslie, David {and Karla} Reagles, Wendy (Reagles) {and Carl} Pregl, Jamie Reagles; Scott White, Chris Fiebig, Amber White]; thirty-eight great-grandchildren [Katherine, Jacob, Annaliese, Robert, Patrick and Lillian Bruns; Hans, Rebekah, Rolf, Lena, Soren, Leif, Andreas and Lars Preus; Hailey, Alivia and Caleb Reagles; Teddy, Otto and Fisher Gordon; Benjamin, Marta, Miriam, Samuel, Elijah and Ingrid Loeslie; Isaiah, Gregory, Felicity and Charles Reagles; Paxton and Zach {and Rachel} Pregel; Seth and Kaedan Reagles; Sophia Delaney White, Isabella, Grayson and Kinsley Wood]; two great-great-grandchildren [Brayden and Sophia Pregel], sister-in-law, Sue {-William} Rediske, and many nieces and nephews.

Alice Rediske was born May 7, 1927, in La Crosse, Wisconsin to William and Mary (nee Kerska) Rediske and became a member of Christ’s church through holy baptism on June 5 ^th , 1927 at First Evangelical Lutheran Church, La Crosse, where she remained a life-long communicant member until her death.

When Alice’s father died while she was still in her early teens, she faithfully dedicated many of her teenage years to helping her mother raise four brothers and a sister. She graduated from Central High School in 1945, where she was the leading drum majorette for the Central High School marching band. Alice met her husband-to-be, Robert Lee Reagles, when as a thirteen year-old girl they frequented roller skating rinks and the Avalon ballroom. After “Bob” was drafted into the military she wrote letters to him during his four and a half years of military and World War II service while deployed in the South Pacific as a radio operator with the 120 ^th Field artillery battalion of the Red Arrow Division. After his discharge from the military in July, 1945, Alice married “Bob” on December 31, 1945, and was happily married to him forty-four years until Bob’s death.  Seven years after her first husband, Robert’s, death, February, 1989, Alice married Kenneth Ingham and spent many happy years living in clear sight of the Mississippi River at the River Place Apartments in La Crosse, until Ken’s death on June 7, 2008.

Alice worked at La Crosse Footwear (Rubber Mills), the La Crosse Credit Bureau, and, for the last 25 years of her life until retirement at age 68, Wisconsin Technical College, as the Chief Switchboard operator. Over the years she made many friends as she trained in new workers at WTC. Alice’s upbeat, friendly, smiling personality gained her many friends through the years and especially in her later years she enjoyed outings around La Crosse in the company of several special friends, including Karen Larson, Lu Anne Georgen, Cindy Swartz, Sandy Heintz, Barb Fischer and Lisa Dimmitt. She especially appreciated the regular calls and love from her sister’s son, Mark Hanson.

Alice appreciated her daughter’s company shopping and their mutual love of flowers. She was proud of her sons, Steve and Tim, and they will always remember how mom faithfully sent her prized home-made chocolate-chip cookies to them while serving in the military; Tim, as a U. S. Army Special Forces, Green Beret, and Steve, even when serving abroad as a U. S. Army helicopter pilot in Vietnam.

Alice enjoyed feeding the birds at her earlier residence by Riverside Park. Her outside porch was the home of colorful Baltimore Orioles charmed by Alice’s grape jelly, Blue Jays, humming birds, woodpeckers and, since red cardinals were her favorite, her children, grandchildren and great children came to expect to see Grandma wearing her favorite black coat emblazoned all around with the bright red images of cardinals.

In her last years Alice especially enjoyed the simple pleasure of rides along the beautiful river and coulee country roads around La Crosse provided by her son Tim, daughter Kim and son Steve, along with their spouses.

Alice was proceeded in death by her husband, Robert Reagles, second husband, Kenneth Ingham, four brothers: Arthur {and wife Marcella Rediske}, William, Frank {and wife Bev} John {and wife Vi} Rediske and sister Irene {and husband Milton} Hanson.

The family would like to extend its sincere appreciation and gratitude for all the staff at Hearten House#2 in La Crosse for the excellent care and love they gave to Alice.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Alice’s honor to First Evangelical Lutheran Church, La Crosse.

A visitation will be held at First Evangelical Lutheran Church, 400 West Avenue South in La Crosse, Wisconsin, between 12:30pm and 2:00pm on Friday, January 14, with the funeral to follow at 2pm.  Pastor Roger Sachs will officiate.