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NORMAL, Ill. - Ann F. Kohler, 98, of Normal, Ill., passed away at 4:14 a.m., on Sunday, Feb. 20, 2011, at Heartland Health Care, in Normal. She was cremated and there will be a private family burial this summer.

Surviving are two children, Phillip J. (Beverly) Kohler Jr., DeWitt, Ill. and Hackensack, Minn., and Mary Ann (Robert) Ray, Mason City, Iowa; two grandsons; seven granddaughters; the eldest is Emily (John) Howland, of Hackensack; 11 great-grandsons; 13 great-granddaughters; four great-great-grandsons; three great-great-granddaughters; and many nieces, nephews and friends.

Ann was born Aug. 27, 1912, in Bloomington, Ill., the daughter of Joseph and Mary Radka Balcer. She married Phillip J. Kohler Sr. Aug. 31, 1930, in Bloomington. He preceded her in death in 1981. Together they spent many summers at Ada Pine Beach, Pine River, Minn., and taught her family to love Minnesota.

She was preceded in death by her parents; four brothers, Raymond, John, Leo and Frank Balcer; and three sisters, Josephine Balcer, Rose Byram and Eleanor Lorance.

She was a cook for the Home Sweet Home Mission, in Bloomington, and a member of their auxiliary. She was a life-long member of Bethlehem Rebekah Lodge #32, also in Bloomington, and May Queen Rebekah Lodge, in Leroy, Ill. She was a friend to many and many were her friends. Her famiy will miss "Grandma Redbird" very much.

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