Tom Bergmann didn’t plan on having nine children. He and his wife, Lisa, left it in God’s hands.
“We felt whatever God gives us,” Bergmann said. “It starts with God. God blessed me with a wonderful wife and a wonderful career.”
Bergmann, a 1978 graduate of Shawano High School, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1984. Then he joined the Army, serving for three years in El Paso, Texas.
“I wanted to serve my country,” Bergmann said.
He returned to Madison, where he worked in the pediatric intensive care unit at the UW Hospital for nine months. Then he joined the Air Force in 1988.
Bergmann was stationed in San Antonio in the neonatal intensive care unit when he met his wife, who was a nurse. That is where Chase, who is in the Marine Reserves and lives in Bonduel, and Bailey, who is in college, were born.
While in Texas, Bergmann went to graduate school from 1994-1996. His next assignment was in Biloxi, Miss., where the twins, Bethany and Christian, were born.
“I started working my way into management positions,” Bergmann said.
At his next assignments, Hannah and Sarah were born in Omaha, Neb., and Joshua was born in Wichita Falls, Texas.
Bergmann was away from his family at times in the service but, he said, “I was blessed not to have to be deployed.”
In 2006, he retired as a lieutenant colonel and the family moved back to Shawano, where Daniel and Caroline were born.
“This is always where I wanted to retire to,” Bergmann said.
Since May 2006, Bergmann has been the trauma program coordinator at Aurora Baycare Medical Center in Green Bay.
The children are home schooled, mostly by Lisa, but during the school year Tom often has a stack of science and math papers to check when he gets home.
“He works so very hard that I can stay home with the children,” Lisa said. “He is a wonderful provider.”
Bergmann said they have typical family issues, but he has been told by people when they are out in public that his children are very well-behaved.
“What is unique with a big family is you have to learn to get along,” he said. “The younger ones learn from the mistakes of the previous ones.”
Bergmann learned discipline from his parents, retired Dr. Franklyn and Kathleen Bergmann, who live near him in the town of Richmond.
“It started with my folks,” he said. “My dad was a role model. He taught me that it is the husband’s role to take care of his family. He instilled a sense of moral right and wrong and discipline. There are consequences to behaviors.”
The family attends Maranatha Baptist Church near Navarino, where Bergmann is a deacon and teaches junior high Sunday School. He is the secretary of Boy Scout Troop 32.
“You see the lack of fathers in families,” Bergmann said. “That has a big impact. Boys, in particular, need to have a father figure. That’s a blessing I’ve had.”
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