Lawrence welk wife name
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Fern Welk remembers childhood in North Dakota
Culture | April 18th, 2024
By Michael M. Miller
michael.miller@ndsu.edu
On March 11, 2024, we celebrated the 121st birthday of bandleader Lawrence Welk. He was born March 11, 1903 in a sod house near Strasburg, North Dakota, and died on May 17,1992. The Lawrence Welk Collection was donated to the North Dakota State University Archives in Fargo.
In May 1994, I interviewed Fern (Renner) Welk, wife of Lawrence Welk, during the grand opening of the Lawrence Welk Champagne Theater in Branson, Missouri. Included in this column are highlights from that interview.
She was born on August 26, 1903, on a ranch near St. Anthony, south of Mandan, North Dakota. Her parents were Mathias and Elizabeth (Anton) Renner, who had emigrated from the Catholic Beresan District villages of South Russia (today nära Odessa, Ukraine). In the interview, Fern shared her story.
“I grew up in St. Anthony, but I was born on the ranch. My mother had a 750-ac
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Lawrence Welk Spent Last Years with Wife of 61 Years at 'Champagne Towers' & Was 'In Control' of His Co-stars
Lawrence Welk was only interested in one woman while he lived, and she remained by his side till his demise. He had unique relationships with his co-stars behind the scenes and even turned his haters into fans — here are details on the life he lived.
Lawrence Welk found love before fame found him, a sequence that came in handy because it meant his wife was there to keep him grounded even as his stardom grew.
The talented musician was married to Fern Renner for more than six decades until his demise. She was born August 26, 1903, and died February 13, 2002, and the couple had three kids together.
Lawrence was born the sixth of eight kids in Strasburg, North Dakota, and he dreamed of making a living as a musician. This is why he petitioned his father, a German-Russian immigrant, to buy him an accordion.
It would cost $400, but Lawrence had promised to pay i
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Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk was born in 1903 in the predominantly German town of Strasburg, North Dakota. Growing up on a farm, he first learned to play the accordion from his father and became consumed with a passion for music. In 1924 after taking a loan from his father, Lawrence left the farm to pursue a career as a musician, much to the dismay of his reserved family. At the age of 21, he formed a small band that toured mainly throughout the Midwest, calling themselves the Hotsy Totsy Boys and later the Honolulu Fruit Orchestra, after Welk scored them a sponsorship from the Honolulu Fruitgum Company. But the name they finally settled on was Lawrence Welk and his Champagne Music Makers.
The band received a big break when they were asked to play the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago and eventually became the regular house band at the Aragon and Trianon Ballrooms. In 1940, Welk, with his wife Fern and three children, moved to 1311 Ashland Avenue in River Forest. His eldest daugh