Carving for a cure

Published 12:00 am Saturday, January 11, 2003

LYLE -- It's the worst-kept secret in town.

Charley Berg is the best wood craftsman around.

Absolutely. Bar none. He's tops.

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Others are good, but Berg is better.

And humble.

Each year his stellar creations go on display at the annual Lyle Area Cancer Auction, but Berg stays away. The artist's art is more important than he.

Wood and Charley Berg have been partners almost forever. A lifestyle that fits.

"I started when I was 8 years old," Berg said. "(My father) said I could use his tools if I would put them back where they belonged when I was done and that's what I did."

Berg grew up west of Lyle, the youngest in a family of two boys and three girls.

His father, Frank, was a painter, paper-hanger and carpenter. His mother was Janet. Both are deceased.

He married Dorothy DeVriendt, who lived near Corning north of Austin. The wedding took place in 1950 at St. Augustine Catholic Church in Austin.

Berg, the bread-winner, went to work immediately, doing what his father taught him: carpentry.

In 1957, the couple moved to Lyle and the house on Locust Street he and Dorothy have occupied since.

It's the one with an American bald eagle on the mail box out front, a life-size cigar store Indian in front of the garage and the small barn out back with smoke from a wood fire, curling from the chimney seven days a week.

Charley and Dorothy have six children -- five daughters and a son.

Barb Crabb lives in Kingsley, Iowa, Betty Meyer lives near Lyle. Jim Berg lives in Fort Dodge, Iowa, Patty Stevens lives in Austin, Polly Allen lives in Bruno and Joan Yocom lives in rural Austin.

In addition, there are 14 grandchildren.

Every daughter and son has a wood creation of their father's and the grandchildren grow up expecting their grandfather to share with them a new creation of wood.

Daughter Patty Stevens and her husband, Mark, are motorcycle riders. They have a handsome Harley Davidson wall plaque fashioned by Berg.

The luckiest grandchildren get to hang around their grandfather in the wood shop when he's turning wood into art.

Doll houses and barns for children, curio cabinets and tables for older relatives and family friends.

Wood works for the man in so many ways.

Berg worked for the city of Lyle 31 years. He was in charge of the city's water supply, wastewater treatment plant and streets.

For 14 years, he was also a Lyle policeman, protecting and serving the community in still another way.

A heart attack forced him to give up his police duties.

But woodworking and carpentry remained constants in his life.

"Sometimes, he spends eight hours a day in the shop and I never see him from morning to night," Dorothy Berg said .

His wood figures have become highly-coveted items at the annual Lyle Area Cancer Auction in mid-January. This year's auction will be held Friday and Saturday night at Lyle American Legion Post No. 105.

So coveted are they, one of the fund-raiser's organizers, Gary Ziegler, said, "At the 2002 auction, Charley's wood figures brought $2,800 and Dorothy's home-made pies and breads brought in over $200, so together they earned over $3,000 for the auction."

Ziegler's wife, Cindy, paid $1,100 for a Berg-carved Statue of Liberty and American flag creation.

"Over the years, since we moved from the Silver Saddle supper club to the Legion Post, I would say Charley's items have been the top-bid items at the auction," Gary Ziegler said.

Berg started donating his one-of-a-kind wood creations when the annual auction moved to Lyle American Legion Post No. 105 in 1982. It was a simple plan.

"I would try to make something special for the auction each year," he said.

When a friend from Rochester bought a hand-carved car and truck combination for $70 each, auction-goers took notice.

The next year, the same buyer paid $300 for a Berg-carved truck and more people took notice.

The following year, everyone was in awe, when the same person paid $750 for a Berg-carved school bus.

A Lyle legend was born.

At the January 2000 auction, a Farmall "M" model tractor earned $1,300 when auction supporter Jack Kline had the final bid.

Last year, a record was set at the annual auction: A Berg-carved John Deere "A" model tractor earned $1,700, when purchased by a granddaughter, Alisha, (the daughter of the Bergs' daughter, Joan Crabb).

A 1936 Ford convertible earned $1,025 in 1999, when Jack Kline couldn't resist Berg's wood artistry.

"I really don't think the dollars paid matter that much to the people when they have the opportunity to take home a piece of Charley's craftsmanship," Gary Ziegler said.

The format he uses year after year is simple.

"I start on the next one the day after the last auction," Berg said. "I may not actually do anything in my shop, but I start thinking about the next one, whenever it strikes my fancy."

This year's Charley Berg special is done. He labored long and lovingly on it last fall and finished it in time for all to see at Christmas in the couple's Lyle home.

It contains poplar, walnut, maple, cherry and basswood. Like all the others, it is complete down to the smallest detail. No flaws here. Just perfection.

What is it? Sorry, that can't be disclosed until 4:30 p.m. Saturday, the last day of this year's auction.

Todd Uptedal will once again have the honor of auctioning a Berg donation.

All that the craftsman will allow anyone to know in advance is a hint.

"I think the auctioneer, Todd Uptedahl, will like it," Berg said with a smile.

Also this time around, Berg has fashioned a wall plaque in the shape of a rooster for the auction organizers.

Combined with an expanded list of fund-raisers throughout the year, Lyle Area Cancer Auction organizers are thinking they can top last year's record-setting $82,000 for the Eagles Cancer Telethon.

"Anything is possible," Cindy Ziegler said.

On Sunday, the organizers have chartered buses to take local volunteers to the telethon's finale on KTTC Channel 10 in Rochester.

Despite the prospect, all six of Charley and Dorothy Berg's children will be home this weekend for the auction. Look for Dorothy to be busy in her kitchen at home and Charley at work in his shop out back.

The barn turned into wood shop is a treasure of tools, wood, patterns and a wood-burning stove where "all my mistakes go," Berg said.

Everything, all the wondrous wood projects that adorn shelves inside the Berg house, began here as ideas in the man's mind.

Sure, he might have sent away for plans, but executing that design and getting the desired result was all in his hands.

It seems odd, when daughter Patty Stevens tells how she took a dogwood cardinal her father carved and sawed into life and entered it in the Mower County Fair a couple of years ago.

"He won a grand champion ribbon for that project," she said, beaming with pride.

One wonders, "Why hasn't a Charley Berg carving been entered before?"

With so much pressure to exceed the expectations of Lyle Area Cancer Auction fans each January, Charley remains unfazed by his special skills and growing reputation.

"It passes the time," he said of woodworking. "I've never had any time for TV, so I spend most of my time in the shop."

"I always know where he's at," Dorothy said.

So Charley whittles, carves, planes and saws each day of his life.

His favorite woods are walnut and cherry. The John Deere and Farmall tractors are his favorite projects.

Soon, Charley Berg fans will compete for another of the man's wood objects. The bids will go higher and higher until the auctioneer declares one of them the highest and hollers "Sold!" to the audience's cheers and applause.

Charley doesn't know if he will attend the auction this weekend.

Still shy after all these years, he prefers the shadows rather than the limelight.

Sadly and like so many others, Berg's family has been tainted by cancer. His brother, Robert, and a brother-in-law, Lester, died of cancer.

The number of friends, acquaintances and neighbors, also victimized by cancer, pushes the toll higher.

On a cold winter's night in January, Charley Berg will fight cancer in the barn turned wood shop.

Wood chips will fly and sawdust will cover everything in sight.

A fire in the wood stove will consume his "mistakes."

As long as there's smoke curling from the chimney, there's reassurance the fight against cancer is being fought.

Beware when the fire goes out.

Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at :mailto:lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com