Vernon Edgar Storm

Vernon Edgar Storm, 94, died peacefully on April 19, 2025, in the company of his loved ones. Mr. Storm was born in Merrill, on Nov. 23, 1930. Preceding Mr. Storm in death were his infant sister, parents, brother Gerald Storm and wife, Marilyn Storm.

Vernon (Vern) grew up on the family farm in Merrill and was a graduate of Merrill High School. He excelled in boxing, earning a silver glove and three golden gloves. In his younger years, he logged in the Northwoods with his father and other family members. He also played trombone in polka bands at ballrooms in the Merrill and Wausau areas.

He moved to Rhinelander after serving in the U.S. Army and the National Guard of Wisconsin. He was honorably discharged from the Guard in 1959 and from the Army in 1961. He was stationed in Italy and played the trombone in the U.S. Army band before being called back home to help his dad on the farm and do repair work in his dad’s popular neighborhood garage.

Vern briefly worked at the Ford garage in Rhinelander before starting a 30-year career with the U.S. Forest Service in 1962, ultimately serving as fleet and equipment specialist in the Nicolet National Forest supervisor’s office. He received three superior performance awards for his quality work. During his time with the Forest Service, he enjoyed his volunteer work as a firefighter to put out wildfires in California and Washington state and taught at Job Corps in Blackwell.

He is survived by four daughters with his first wife including Sheila (Hector) Storm Bustamante, Corona de Tucson, Ariz., Anita (Tim) Soley, Rice Lake, Carla Storm, Crandon, and Patti Storm, St. Paul, Minn.

In 1976, Vernon married the love of his life, Marilyn Dootson, and gained six stepchildren. He is survived by Deidre Dootson, Florida, Sue (Eric Chan) Dootson, Florida, Liz Dootson, Appleton, Mary (Jay) Scheidegger, Kingman, Ariz., Kathy (Dale) Brenwall, Suring, and Ted Dootson (April Platt) of Appleton. In 1978, a new addition arrived in the family to raise the child count to 11, Jonathan Storm, Honolulu.

Vern was a member and regular attendee of Zion Ev. Lutheran Church and served as an usher for many years, often ringing the church bells.

Throughout his long and blessed life, Vern was known for his love of fishing, actively dipping the line on Lake Thompson and many other lakes in the Northwoods. Vernon took many trips to Canada with his buddies and family. He was never one to give away his secret fishing spots, though, even to his own children. The family menu often included the many walleyes he caught and an occasional musky or northern. Venison was another featured menu item since Vern was an avid hunter at his hunting shack in New Wood. He hunted with close friends and family members over the decades, including his stepson Ted. He also was a regular bird hunter, successfully hunting Canada geese to turkeys.

Vern and Marilyn enjoyed entertaining others and hosted many parties at their home on Lake Thompson for fundraising or other events, They enjoyed traveling internationally in their retirement years, including trips to Greece, Hong Kong, Germany, Russia, Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, as well as to Pennsylvania, Alaska and other states to visit their children. Early on, they also took the family on annual camping trips, often close to good fishing spots for you know who.

Mr. Storm is also survived by 19 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. He is also survived by nephews Tom and Tim Storm.

Known as an overall nice guy with a good sense of humor who was game for anything, Vern had many close friends over the years including many in the neighborhood and around Lake Thompson. He also was a handyman who could fix anything. He worked on remodeling projects during his retirement years and dabbled in woodworking. He always kept his yard in tip-top shape by keeping the lawn mowed, leaves raked and snow cleared. He was often one of the first to be out in the neighborhood to help clean up trees that fell during tornado-like weather or damaging windstorms. He was also known for chasing bears away to keep neighborhood kids safe.

One of Vern’s favorite past-times was listening to a wide variety of polka music, and he liked to crank up the CD player to be sure all the neighbors could enjoy the music with him. He was tickled to meet Mollie B and get her autograph. Although a true outdoorsman, he also enjoyed watching the Packers, Brewers and Bucks games or a good boxing match. In his younger years, he also participated in a bowling league.

Vern was referred to as the “Cookie Monster” for his sweet tooth and his love of cookies, starting with the many homemade cookies his mother baked during her lifetime, and then graduating to the many special desserts Marilyn made for him over the years, and homemade cookies and pies made by his daughters Sheila and Anita of late as well as fruit pies supplied by his stepdaughter Kathy.

A much-loved person, Vern loved his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren in return and passed along a work hard/play hard mentality to all as well as the importance of volunteering, including a 20-mile fund-raising walk-a-thon (8 hours!) with a bunch of his kids in the late 1970s.

The family wishes to thank the caregivers at Milestone Senior Living and Moments Hospice for caring for Vern in recent months. The family encourages donations to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (https://alzfdn.org/donate/) to help support research to combat this growing disease which affects so many people and families. More importantly, if you can volunteer at a memory care facility or support the family of someone with dementia, any small gesture will be much appreciated.

In addition, the family wants to recognize Vernon’s eldest daughter Sheila and her spouse Hector for their selfless time over the last two years to care for Vern in his home until he moved to Milestone this past October. Also, a special recognition to stepson Ted Dootson for all his assistance for Vern (and Marilyn) throughout the years.

Visitation for Vern will be held on Friday, April 25, at the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, April 25, at the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church with the Reverend Karl Schultz officiating. Entombment will be in the Northland Memorial Park Mausoleum. You may leave your private condolences for the Storm family at www.carlsonfh.com. The Carlson Funeral Home, 715-369-1414, is serving the Storm family.