Dr. Sterling Berg, 84, of Redfield, SD, died Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at Community Memorial Hospital in Redfield.

Mass of Christian Burial will be Monday, December 15, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Bernard's Catholic Church in Redfield. Father William Osborn will celebrate the mass.

Burial will be in St. Bernard's Cemetery with full military rites.

Visitation will be Sunday from 2-8 p.m. with the family present starting at 6:00 p.m. There will be a rosary at 7:00 p.m. at Thelen Funeral Home in Redfield. www.thelenfuneralhome.com

Sterling was born April 21, 1924 in Mitchell, SD to Luvine and Helen (Thorland) Berg. In the early 1930's, his parents moved to San Francisco, where he was raised and graduated high school before going off to WWII. After the war, Sterling attended Indiana State University(BS-Chemistry), before attending medical school at USD and University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Sterling interned at Sacred Heart Hospital in Yankton, where he met and married Mary Jane Falconer in 1955. They moved to Tyndall, SD where he began practicing medicine and raising a family. In 1963, he and his wife Mary moved to Scotland, SD, and in the spring of 1972, they came to Redfield. Sterling practiced medicine at the Redfield Clinic until 1991. He then worked a year at the VA Hospital in Hot Springs, before returning to the Redfield area where he worked as locum tenens in eastern South Dakota until 1998, officially retiring in 2002. Sterling enjoyed spending time with his wife and family, boating on the Missouri river, skiing in the Black Hills, and camping around the state and into Wyoming, Colorado and Texas. He enjoyed tinkering with cars, bikes and spent many hours converting an old school bus into a camper. He obtained a pilot license and was part of a six-man flying club until the early 1970's. Sterling was a member of the VFW and the American Legion, and after he became a Roman Catholic, he joined the Knights of Columbus and was a first-degree knight. A kind and gentle man, Sterling enjoyed life and is a treasure whom we will dearly miss.

He is preceded in death by his parents, his wife Mary; two brothers, Donald and Melvin; two sisters Marian Denke and Jean Holcomb.

Sterling will be lovingly remembered by his seven children: Mike (Vicki) Berg of Roswell, NM; Julie (Patrick) Jungwirth of Redfield, SD; Kathleen (Mike) Lynch of Burbank, SD; Ken (Clara) Berg of Lodi, CA; John (Mena) Berg of DeSmet, SD; Marcie (Jeff) Peterson of Watertown, SD; and Richard Berg of Aurelia, IA; one sister Lucile Grady; eighteen grandchildren, one great grandson and many nieces and nephews.