Bodholdt, Margaret (1917-2009)

BODHOLDT, DYVAD, PERRILL, DAVIS, MILLER, BEDKE

Posted By: Paul Nagy (email)
Date: 12/6/2009 at 14:06:35

Margaret Bodholdt Apr. 11, 1917 - Nov. 27, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009

Margaret Bodholdt, age 92, of Storm Lake, died Nov. 27, 2009 at her home in Storm Lake.
Funeral services were held Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009 at at Grace Lutheran Church in Storm Lake. Burial was in the Newell Cemetery. The Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake was in charge of the arrangements.

Margaret Marie Dyvad Bodholdt of Storm Lake and formerly Newell, was the third child born to Nels and Kathrine Dyvad on a farm northwest of Varina in Buena Vista County on April 11, 1917. (She was never sure of the exact date, as she was born near midnight: the doctor's watch was before midnight and their house clock was after!) Margaret was baptized at Nain Lutheran Church in Newell and confirmed in the United Methodist Church in Storm Lake. She was a long time member of Nain Lutheran Church in Newell before transferring her membership to Grace Lutheran Church after she moved to Storm Lake.

When Margaret was in second grade, the family moved to Storm Lake where her father operated the Diesel Light Plant on Vestal Street. Margaret graduated from Storm Lake High School in 1935 and attended Buena Vista College during the extremely hot summer of 1936. (She fainted from the heat during biology class!)

During the winter of 1936, Margaret began dating the love of her life and her future husband, Harold Peter Bodholdt of Newell. She loved to reminisce about their dates in his little Chevrolet, braving the unusually frigid temperatures and snowfalls of that winter. Harold and Margaret were married at the Methodist Parsonage in Fort Dodge on May 21, 1938. Over a span of 24 years, they had five children: Mark, David, Steven, Scott, and Mary.

Margaret said her lifelong passion was teaching. She taught in a country school for three years and was devoted to her students, even giving them bicycle rides at recess! This devotion was mutual--she met one of her pupils 50 years later and he was still carrying a photo of her in his billfold! She also used her teaching and leadership skills for many years guiding bible study groups, holding offices in church women's groups, as a Cub Scout Den Mother, and as a member of the Danish Sisterhood. She claimed she would have done more, had she not contracted Scarlet Fever at the age of 10--as a result, she gradually lost most of her hearing over her lifetime, often making communication difficult.

Always artistic, Margaret became accomplished in many endeavors, especially in pastel paintings, until she discovered the delicacy of pastels and the rambunctiousness of children was an impossible combination! In later years she turned her artistic talents for design and color to the creation of dozens of crocheted afghans.

Margaret was known in the family for her clairvoyant tendencies. Though she usually played this down, her abilities sparked many conversations over the years. She was especially good at dreaming about solutions to problems or to find misplaced items around the house.

As a lifelong avid reader, Margaret preferred the classics. One year she decided to make a stack of all the books she read--by the end of the year, the column was nearly five feet high!

Margaret maintained her wit and wisdom throughout the fullness of 92 years. She died Nov. 27, 2009 and will be dearly missed by her children: Mark Bodholdt of Hudson, Mass.; David (Sally) Bodholdt and Steven (Kathy) Bodholdt of Storm Lake; Scott (Kristin) Bodholdt of Newell; Mary (Jeffrey) Perrill of Peterson; and granddaughter Sorena Perrill Davis, whom she regarded as her "second daughter"; her 13 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren.; her brother, Harold (Joyce) Dyvad of Buda, TX; her sister, Doris Miller of Inverness, Fla.; her sister-in-law, Jean Dyvad Bartholomew of Sioux City; as well as many nieces and nephews.

Margaret was preceded in death by her husband, Harold Bodholdt; her parents; sisters, Helen Bedke and Clara Dyvad; and brothers, Larry, Clifford, and Harvey Dyvad.

© Copyright 2009, Storm Lake Pilot Tribune

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