Obituary of Charlotte Victoria Kroenk

Charlotte Torvik Kroenk:  Daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, cousin, and friend. She was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota February 1937, and died late September 2020 in Tacoma, Washington at the age of 83.  Char, as she was known, grew up in Ironwood, Michigan, on the shores of Lake Superior and spent summers with extended family at a cabin in Northern Minnesota.  As a teenager, the family moved out to Palo Alto, California, where she graduated from Palo Alto High School.  She then came north to study nursing at Pacific Lutheran College, as it was known then.  There, she met Kenneth Torvik and they married in September 1959.  Their first home was in St. Paul, Minnesota, where Ken attended a Lutheran Seminary.  Together, they lived in several communities in Eastern Washington, including Almira, Othello, Richland, Florence, Oregon, and finally settling in Tacoma.  There, she added to her B.S. in Nursing and obtained a Certificate in School Nursing from Pacific Lutheran University. She worked in several elementary and middle schools in Tacoma, before retiring. 

Eight years after Ken’s passing, Char married Rev. Luther Kroenk, a retired Lutheran pastor. They were married 14 years, before he passed away; they were active with United Lutheran Church.  Char was a strong woman of faith and had a caring and generous heart.  She was known to family and friends and all those in the care center as the woman with bright eyes and a beautiful smile that made everyone feel joyful when they saw her.  She is survived by her children Kathryn, Karissa, and Greg, grandchildren, Joshua and Gabriel, great grandchildren, her brother Ted, as well as sisters and brothers-in-law, son-in-law, cousins, nieces, and nephews.  She was preceded in death by her granddaughter Kristin.

Memorial Gifts:

In lieu of flowers, the family would like any financial gifts  people would like to offer to be donated to Mom’s old church, United Lutheran on 72nd St. in Tacoma. They were recently devastated by an arson fire.