Jennifer Haller

Adalbert Toepel

Musgrove Family Mortuary

Altogether<br/>4307 Vineland Road, Suite H-17-19, Orlando, FL 32811<br/>For more information, visit our website at <a href='www.altogetherfuneral.com'>www.altogetherfuneral.com</a><br/>Copyright © 2025 FPG Intermediate Holdco, LLC

Bert Toepel was born on January 18, 1929, in Colville, WA, 40 miles from the border with Canada, where his father worked out of nearby Addy for a short time as an independent small sawmill owner. After the onset of the Great Depression, his father gained employment with Northwest Magnesite Company in Chewelah, WA, where the new family established its permanent residence. Growing up in a small town in eastern Washington, Bert had the opportunity to be independent at an early age, sometimes disappearing into the hills for the day with his granddad’s dog as a companion. He joined Boy Scouts when he was 12, leading to a lifetime love of outdoor adventure. From his boyhood, Bert planned to be a professional soldier and, thanks to the advice of an uncle, was influenced to seek an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point.

After graduating from Chewelah High School, Bert attended one year at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA, to better prepare for the academic rigor at West Point. While at Gonzaga, he spent weekends at home in Chewelah, where he had met his future wife, ​​Mildred Foege, in band class in high school. He was admitted to West Point in 1948 and graduated as a ​​second lieutenant of artillery in 1952. Bert and Mildred were married 12 days after his graduation and, shortly thereafter, were off to his first assignment at Fort Bliss, TX. It was their first of 26 moves in their 27 years in military service.

Bert had a varied career in the Army with air defense artillery, field artillery, aviation, staff, research and development, and educational assignments. He was a master aviator and qualified on many fixed wing airplanes and helicopters, specializing in instrument flight as an instrument flight examiner. His Army flight training qualified him for an FAA Commercial Pilot License in both airplanes and helicopters under instrument as well as visual flight conditions. He served in Korea (1954-1955) as a field artillery battery commander for the 7th Infantry Division, and two tours in Vietnam (1967-1968 and 1970-1971) with the First Cavalry Division: first as a G-2 (Intelligence) officer and second as Commander of the 2nd Battalion, 20th Artillery (Aerial Rocket Artillery). Other assignments included Commander of US Army Dugway Proving Ground, UT; System Manager, Copperhead (laser-guided artillery round); and student assignments at the Army’s Command and General Staff College and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He attended two years as a student at the Georgia Institute of Technology (1958-1960), earning a Bachelor of Aeronautical Engineering and a Master of Science in Aeronautical Engineering.

As an Army helicopter pilot, Bert pulled another pilot from a burning helicopter in Alabama and helped rescue climbers from Mt. McKinley (later renamed Denali). Bert’s military awards include two Legion of Merits, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Bronze Star Medals, a Soldier’s Medal, three Meritorious Service Medals, 35 Air Medals, and three Commendation Medals, plus numerous campaign medals for Korea and Vietnam, Master Army Aviator Badge, and Army General Staff Badge.

After retiring to Eugene in 1979, Bert attended Lane Community College intending to become a cabinetmaker. Due to a depression in the timber industry, he altered his plans and served nine years as​ ​​​director of the Lane Memorial Blood Bank (now Bloodwork's Northwest) before entering the ranks of the formally retired.

Boy Scouting was a major part of Bert’s life, as he was a participating member for over 70 years, earning the rank of Eagle with Silver & Bronze Palms, then volunteering service as Cubmaster, Scoutmaster and numerous troop and council committees wherever he and his family were living. Later years included training events and activities for adult leaders. In 1983, the Oregon Trail Council recognized Bert’s contributions with the Silver Beaver Award, the highest volunteer award given by a local Boy Scout council.

Bert personified much of what he learned in a lifetime of Scouting. He was loyal, kind, honest​,​ and loving. He was cheerful, friendly​,​ and helpful. He was the ultimate planner whose motto was “plan the work and work the plan.” He lived life as an optimist, something that helped him through deployments to Korea and Vietnam, especially the 12 to 16 month separations from his family. His philosophy was that he—like any of us—could make the world a better place, and he acted on that daily. Bert never passed a person in distress without offering help. His family remembers numerous car trips that were temporarily delayed en route as Bert pulled over to check on someone. We will never know all the people whose lives he touched.

Among his many interests, Bert had a love of music. He variously played violin, bugle, trumpet, harmonica, banjo, and aspired to learn the bagpipes though the latter foray was brief. In high school he used his earnings as ​a ​stockboy at Safeway to invest in vinyl records, such as Louis Armstrong and other horn players. Bert also had a sly sense of humor and relished a particularly good prank. He enjoyed life and sought to help others enjoy it too. He believed certain experiences were life-shaping, such as the epic 3-week backpacking trip to Philmont Scout Ranch, Cimarron, NM, shared by Bert and son Steve’s troop in 1973 to earn the 50 Mile award. Bert and Steve also shared an Honor Flight experience to ​Washington ​D.C. in 2019, which was deeply moving for them both.

​​Followi​ng his military retirement, Bert became a life member of the Military Officers Association of America (Emerald Empire Chapter of MOAA), The American Legion (Post 3), and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW Post 293) and attended meetings regularly, enjoying the camaraderie and shared experience of other veterans. He was also active as a Rotarian through Eugene Southtowne Club of Rotary International for 38 years, selling countless Duck Race tickets and working through Rotary on construction of home projects for Habitat for Humanity in central Lane County. ​​For ten years he was a dedicated Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for the Lane County Juvenile Court. He also spent a number of his later years as a volunteer for Food for Lane County through Emmaus Lutheran Church until the pandemic restricted his age group from such services. Wherever there was a Lutheran church in the many places the family lived, including Eugene, Bert became actively involved, even helping to build churches in Alabama and Alaska.

At age 65, Bert joined forces with an experienced carpenter and from 1994 to 1996 built a home in the hills of South Eugene to enjoy with Mildred in their autumn years. At the age of 85, he made the difficult decision with Mildred to leave their home and move to nearby Cascade Manor in 2015. Ever the consummate planners, the two of them did not want the other to have to downsize and make the difficult move to a retirement community on their own. In true partnership, they took their last move together. Their move was made easier by the assistance of their son, daughter, and granddaughters Kelsey and Ab​igail,​ who not only helped with the physical sorting and moving but also enjoyed hearing stories from family history as the move unfolded.

Bert served as a member of the Cascade Manor community for a decade, volunteering in various capacities. He was probably best known for his posting of American flags in the courtyard of the 29th Place Apartments on national holidays. As a 27-year veteran of an earlier era, he was warmed by the support offered by the residents of Cascade Manor.

Throughout his life, Bert shared small joys with big benefits—chocolate at every opportunity, baking and sharing cookies and coffeecakes, having fresh corn and tomatoes as often as possible in the summer (ME & Moore was a favorite outing), and relaxing with a big bowl of popcorn and Pepsi with his family, a joy he learned in childhood from his own father. Prior to his sudden death attributed to pneumonia, Bert enjoyed a week packed with his favorite things including Swedish pancakes with family at the Original Pancake House, dominoes with the grandchildren, popcorn with his children, and an extended Thanksgiving with his family. Most of all, Bert loved sharing time with his best friend Mil, his family and his friends. Our family is most fortunate that Bert and Mil found each other nearly 80 years ago and forged a lifetime of love and trust.

Bert was preceded in death by his parents (Adalbert and Edith Toepel of Chewelah), and his younger sisters Jean Schwantz (Chewelah) and Susan Alby (Lincoln, NE). Survivors include his best friend and wife of 73 years, Mildred; daughter Kathryn (Rick Minor) of Eugene, and son Steven of Port Ludlow, WA; grandchildren, James Toepel of Seattle, Christen Miller (Patrick) and their daughter Aven of Lopez Island, WA, Kelsey Minor (Vishwa Padaraju) of West Seattle, and Abigail Minor (Alex Golbek) of Kenmore, WA. As Bert liked to say, “life with grandchildren is always great!”

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Bert’s memory to causes he held dear, including the Pacific Crest Council of the Boy Scouts of America, CASA of Lane County (to support volunteers who advocate for the best interests of children in foster care), Rotary Foundation (to help improve world health and education and alleviate poverty), and Habitat for Humanity of Central Lane (to support the building of affordable homes for hardworking local families).

A military burial was held Dec​ember 1​0, 2025, at Willamette National Cemetery east of Portland​, OR​. A memorial service will be held January 10, 2026, at 2​:00​ p.m. at Emmaus Lutheran Church, 1250 W. 18th Avenue in Eugene. All are welcome.

When words can't fully express what we want to say, sometimes a small gift can. Visit our Memorial Store for personalized gifts, keepsake jewelry and to plant a memorial tree.

Page Settings

Full Name

We use cookies to enhance browsing experience serve personalized ads or content, and analyze our traffic. By clicking 'Accept All', you consent to our use of cookies. Learn more on our <privacyLink>Privacy Page</privacyLink>.

<firstParagraph>We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze how you use this website, store your preferences, and provide the content and advertisements that are relevant to you. These cookies will only be stored in your browser with your prior consent.</firstParagraph><secondParagraph>You can choose to enable or disable some or all of these cookies but disabling some of them may affect your browsing experience.</secondParagraph>

<firstParagraph>We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.</firstParagraph><secondParagraph>The cookies that are categorized as 'Necessary' are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site.</secondParagraph>

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

Analytics

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

Functional

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

Necessary

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

Performance

Customize Cookie Preferences

Enter a new password to access your account with.

Create New Password

Verification Successful!

Black Friday Offering

Honor Their Memory

- Including QR Memorial Plaques, Memorial Trees and our Keeper Plus and Concierge Memorial Plans

Now offering KeeperQR Plaques

New Message

The following files could not be uploaded

Ways you can honor {memorialName}'s memory:

Enter the email address associated with your account and we'll email your password reset instructions.

Forgot Password?

Donation Link

Upcoming Event

Featured Mementos

Welcome Message

Select an item to highlight

Add a highlighted item

Customize which items you’d like to highlight on the memorial

Create Account

Become a Keeper

As a free {brandName} user, you will only be able to make 5 photos and videos public.

As a free {brandName} user, only the first five (5) Mementos are visible to page visitors. You can change which Mementos are public by dragging and dropping a photo or video to one of the first five positions. Upgrading to {brandName} Plus will make all 10 Mementos selected visible to the public.

All Mementos

This option is only available to Keeper Plus users.

To allow yourself and the rest of the community to view all images and videos, and to enable everyone to download their own copy of these mementos, upgrade your account to Keeper Plus.

This memento is not visible to visitors

Your community has posted {itemCount} more pictures and videos that honor {firstName}'s memory. To view them all, and to enable everyone to download their own copy of each, this account will need to upgrade to Keeper Plus.

View all images and videos with Keeper Plus

Our Obituary Assistant helps you craft a meaningful life story in minutes. Review and edit every detail, and unlock more features with Keeper Plus.

Obituary Assistant

Spend as much time as you need working on your Memorial page before it is visible to the public, and much more, when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Save Page as Draft

Create unlimited event pages and unlock a suite of powerful features to help you seamlessly coordinate event details, invites, and more when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Event

Create a full picture of your loved one’s community and add unlimited family and friends to Loved Ones when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Loved One

Create unlimited Memorials — and unlock unlimited images and videos, event pages, and advanced privacy settings — to help you keep memories alive when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Memorial Page

Add unlimited Stories to highlight the all the things that made your loved one unique, from milestones, images, albums, documents, locations, and much more.

Highlight Stories

Upgrading to Keeper Plus means you can add additional Keepers to help you gather Mementos and tributes, approve content, build out a family tree, and tell {firstName}' story on Keeper.

Invite Keepers with Keeper Plus

Upload and display unlimited photos and videos, use unlimited Story templates to highlight key moments, and allow friends and family to download their own copies when you upgrade to Keeper Plus. 

Better Mementos with Keeper Plus

To access memorial related configurations that control the display of the banner upgrade to Keeper Plus.

This configuration  is not available on your current plan

Create a meaningful link path to add a personal touch to {firstName}'s memorial.

Custom Memorial link

Gift Messages

SENDING AS A GIFT?

Cart

About 1-800 Flowers

"Flowers were beautiful and they arrived in time before the funeral. Thank you and will purchase more in the future.!"

Hearing Tears

"Beautiful flowers, I've always enjoyed sending them to my love ones for sympathy and they have always love them very much Thanks for making people feel good when receiving them."

Sympathy

"This was true to the photo and good to know family took arrangement after the service."

Beautiful arrangement.  Perfect size for service.

Some of the great things our customers say about us

We're here to make it a little easier, with thoughtful gifts for the services & home, along with expert advice on how to be there during a difficult time.

Flowers

Gift Baskets

Express Your Deepest Sympathy

About Us

Perfect Condolence Gift

No one is meant to grieve alone

Peace and love

Product is made, packaged, and sent with love

Keepsakes

How to add your gift message

Packaging Information

Shipping information

Add a Personalized Charm to the Ornament:

Other Keepsakes

Install KeeperQR onto any headstone, urn, or other memorial in minutes.

Install

Use your phone or tablet to scan the unique code — no other tools required!

Scan

All three of our elegant KeeperQR designs are printed using durable, weather-resistant aluminum designed for indoors and outdoor use on headstones and urns, memorial benches and trees, or other monuments to your loved one’s life

Built to Last

Get <discount>50% off</discount> Keeper Plus with your KeeperQR purchase

Keeper Basic

Learn About Our Plans

Connect the physical and digital worlds to share your loved one’s life story with friends and family, no matter where they are.

KeeperQR Memorial QR Code Plaques

Planting a memorial tree or bereavement tree is a unique, environmentally conscious way to pay tribute and honor the memory of your loved one. Keeper Memorials is supporting American Forests to plant whitebark pine trees as well as thornscrub trees in select regions of the US and Canada.

Memorial Trees

KeeperQR is designed to pair seamlessly with a Keeper digital memorial. Use our FREE intuitive tools to create biographies, maps, and timelines, share photos and videos, and more with customizable features built to commemorate your loved one’s life’s story.

Powered by Keeper

Lifetime without any hidden costs or subscription traps

One time payment

Keeper is SOC2 compliant, keeping your memories safe and secure.

Data protection guaranteed

We bring your QR Codes to any corner of the globe

Worldwide Shipping

Our durable and beautiful QR code plaques create seamless connection between your loved one’s physical memorial and their digital memorial, allowing visitors to their final resting place instant access to their life legacy.

Memorial.

Honor their memory, share their story

A KeeperQR is a weather-resistant plaque with a custom QR code that links directly to your loved one’s digital memorial. When placed on a headstone, urn, bench, or tree, it allows friends and family to scan and view their life story instantly

What is a KeeperQR?

They’re built to withstand outdoor elements and adhere to most surfaces.

Where can I place the KeeperQR?

How does it work?

Frequently asked questions

KeeperQR

E-Certificate Design

Plant Memorial Trees as a Living Tribute

BRAZIL

CANADA

FLORIDA

OREGON

Memorial Project Reach

Memorial trees start at {price} per tree, with discounts for multiple trees

Our Commitment

Gift Baskets & Food

Keeper Plus

QR Plaques

Keepers Featured Products

A Greener Way to Remember

Learn about our Partners:

Help Us Complete Your Order

Remembrance Store

Through your unique link, your client can sign up for Keeper and create a Memorial for a loved one. When the Memorial page is completed by the family, it will appear on your microsite and website. You will be the main Keeper Administrator of the Memorial, along with the family member that created the page.

Invite Your Clients to Create a Memorial

Invite Families

Your Email Notifications

Notifications

Email Unsubscribe Settings

Other Settings

With your active Keeper PLUS subscription, you get unlimited access to a suite of powerful features:

Allow visitors to download a local copy of all images and videos.

Download Media

Create a custom and meaningful URL, unique to your loved one, for each Memorial page.

Editable URL

Plan public or private events and invite your loved ones.

Event Pages

Add images and create profile pages to illustrate the history and genealogy of your loved one.

Family Tree

Invite unlimited administrators to help you manage every Memorial page you have.

Keeper Administrators

Visitors enjoy unrestricted access to all uploaded images and videos.

Unlimited Media

Create unlimited Memorial pages for your loved ones.

Memorial Pages

You will be able to upload Full HD videos instead of embedded links.

Video Uploading

Your Profile

Add a business user

Edit a business user

Are you sure you want to delete these users from these brands? You will need to manually add these users again.

If the user is a part of multiple brands, you will have to delete the user from each one individually

Delete Users from Brands?

Users Settings & Notifications

Users

Are you sure you want to delete these users? This action will revoke their privileges across all brands.

Are you sure you want to delete this user? This action will revoke their privileges across all brands.

Delete Users from all Brands?

Delete User from Brand?

Are you sure you want to delete {totalDeletes} from this user?

Delete Roles from this User?

Are you sure you want to delete this user from this brand? You will need to manually add this user again.

Delete User from this Brand?

Requires users to confirm their email every time they would like to share a tribute on a Memorial page.

When Email Tribute Validation is turned OFF, Guest users do not need to confirm their email address before their tribute is published.

When Email Tribute Validation is turned ON, Guest users will need to confirm their email address before their tribute is published. They will receive an email with a confirmation link they must click.

Requires users to confirm their email only the first time they would like to share a tribute on a Memorial page.

Email Tribute Validation

If Flagged Content is turned OFF, content that has been flagged will remain public until they have been Approved or Removed from the Requests Center.

If Flagged Content is turned ON, content that has been flagged will be hidden until they have been Approved or Removed from the Requests Center.

Hide Flagged Content

Language

Email Notifications

Are you sure you want to delete the Memorial for {name}? This action will permanently remove the memorial from the system.

Delete Memorial?

When Memorial Request Moderation is turned OFF, Memorials will automatically be published.

When Memorial Request Moderation is turned ON, Memorials will only be published if and when you approve them. Memorials can be published or deleted in the Requests center.

Memorial Keepers (1)

Adalbert "Bert" Edward Toepel, Jr.

Tell us about Adalbert Toepel's life

Add Mementos

Adalbert Bert Toepel Obituary | Altogether

Memorial Keepers (1)

Adalbert "Bert" Edward Toepel, Jr.

Tell us about Adalbert Toepel's life

Add Mementos