Gary Van Kauwenbergh

Gary’s Livestream Service will begin at 11 a.m. CT on Friday, April 26, 2024. Scroll down to the Webcast section and click on “Watch Now.”

MADISON - Gary Van Kauwenbergh, age 69, died unexpectedly of natural causes on Wednesday, April 10, 2024. Born on June 25, 1954, in Green Bay, he spent his childhood all over the state of Wisconsin, as his family of seven followed his father’s career through the Ma Bell phone system. Though he grew up in Green Bay, La Crosse, Appleton, and Wausau, the family eventually settled in Superior. There, Gary met his wife of 50 years, Darlene, in the violin section of their middle school orchestra.  He graduated from Superior Senior High School in 1972. He continued playing the fiddle (“not the violin!”) with his family throughout his life.

Shortly after graduating, Gary joined the U.S. Army in 1973. That year, he earned the National Defense State Medal, and returned home to get married. Gary and Darlene honeymooned on their road trip to Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colo., where they stayed until being stationed, as a family of three, in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1975, where they became a family of four. In 1977, Gary was awarded the Army Commendation Medal and was honorably discharged from active duty.  The family lived in Superior where Gary and Darlene both attended the University of Wisconsin (UWS) while juggling a young family.  

Missing the military, Gary joined the National Guard (WIARNG) in 1978.  The family grew to five in 1979.  He attended the Wisconsin Military Academy (WMA) in ’79-’80 earning a commission as a Lieutenant in 1980.  Also, in 1980, Gary graduated with two Bachelors of Science degrees, in Accounting and Data Processing. Unused to all the “free time,” he decided to join the Civil War Shooting Association as part of Larson’s Raiders, a marksman competition cannon crew. From then on, Civil War history became a major factor in Gary’s life. Always a fan of history, Gary was a passionate amateur historian, spending countless hours researching battles, weaponry, uniforms and flags. Family vacations from that point on centered on touring Civil War historical sites and battlefields. Gary eventually expanded his CWSA competitions to include rifles, pistols, mortars and other period weaponry, as both an individual competitor and as part of teams.

In 1999, Gary was a founding member of the American Civil War Shooting Association (ACWSA), and proudly represented the 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry at shoots until the pandemic and his health precluded his participation. He spoke and provided fiddle music with the family band at ACWSA and other historical events throughout the state.

Gary started his Wisconsin State employment in 1980 at UW-Superior.  In 1982, the family moved to Madison, where Gary started working for the Department of Transportation before moving to the Department of Revenue in 1985, where he worked for 26 years until his retirement in 2011. He also transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve, serving with the 389th EN BN out of Dodgeville, eventually retiring as a Captain after 20 years of service to his country.

After retiring, Gary became an avid genealogist, researching tirelessly through libraries, cemeteries, churches and genealogy societies all over the state, and finally internationally. A stickler for substantiated data, Gary expanded the depth and breadth of the Van Kauwenbergh family tree countless generations back to our original roots in Belgium. Gary was exceptionally proud of his family heritage and searched high and low to buy back the violins and duck decoys made by his craftsman grandfather, John “Jack” Van Kauwenbergh, in the 1940s and 1950s. He encouraged all his children and grandchildren, as well as his nieces and nephews, to learn the violin, promising each child their very own Van Kauwenbergh Violin as soon as they could play “The Irish Washerwoman.”

Gary is preceded in death by his father, Harold; and his mother, Gladys. He is survived by his wife, Darlene (Amundson); his three children, Jack (Jenni), Brad, and Amy; his grandchildren, Ben, Leah and Max; his siblings, Steve, Wayne, Lynn and Peter; and 11 nieces and nephews.

Our lives were enriched with Gary in it.  We’ll miss you.  You were so driven to provide for your family and friends -- may you finally get the rest you couldn’t give yourself in your lifetime.

A funeral service will be held at Gunderson Fitchburg Funeral and Cremation Care, 2950 Chapel Valley Road, Fitchburg, on Friday, April 26, 2024, at 11 a.m. Family and friends who wish to view the service via LIVESTREAM may visit Gary’s obituary page at www.gundersonfh.com at the time of the service and click on Watch Now in the Webcast section.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorials be made to the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.

Gunderson Fitchburg

Funeral & Cremation Care

2950 Chapel Valley Road

(608) 442-5002