Thelma O. Janssen

JANSSEN, SOMA, OSWALD, LAGE, BRIDGEWATER, OTT

Posted By: Mark Bailey (email)
Date: 6/11/2006 at 13:07:22

Thelma O. Janssen

MASON CITY - Thelma O. Janssen, 79, of rural Mason City, died Thursday, (June 8, 2006) at Good Shepherd Health Center, Mason City, under hospice care.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 13, at St. Luke Lutheran Church, 101 N. Hawkeye, Nora Springs, with the Rev. Dr. Jennifer Edinger officiating. Graveside services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Our Savior's Lutheran Cemetery, Kiester, Minn.

Visitation will be held from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, June 12, at the Sheckler Colonial Chapel, 114 N. Hawkeye, Nora Springs.

Memorials may be directed to Hospice of North Iowa.

Thelma was born on Feb. 27, 1927, in Albert Lea, Minn., the daughter of Tosten (Tom) and Olga (Oswald) Soma.

Thelma married Bob Janssen on July 18, 1954, at Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Kiester, Minn. They resided in the Kiester area until 1961 when they moved to a farm outside of Garner, Iowa. They farmed in Garner for five years before moving to the acreage west of Nora Springs in November 1966. She lived in her own home until a week before she died when she left to enter Rochester's St. Marys Hospital. She was only at Good Shepherd for a day before she passed away. She so enjoyed the nurses and staff while at her stay in Rochester and got to know them as best she could and apologized to them for being "such a bother." She always worried about everyone else before she thought about herself. She didn't have long enough to get to know those at Good Shepherd but we know she would have gotten to know them as well.

Thelma worked outside the home while living near Nora Springs. She started working at Liberty Square in Nora Springs as a nurse's aide and then worked in the laundry department. When Nora Springs Care Center was built, she then moved there to work in the laundry and later as a kitchen aide until her retirement in 1992.

She was a member of St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Nora Springs and enjoyed going to Do-Day to help with the quilting until her health kept her home. When her health made it too difficult to leave home, she kept up with what was going on at church through the newsletter and other members. She so enjoyed her visits with Pastor Ruth and later Pastor Jenny when they would come see her.

She enjoyed gardening in her flower beds and being outside. The thing she most enjoyed in later years was having her grandchildren come over to talk or help do things for her. It brought a smile to her face as she would tell other people what her grandchildren had said or done for her. She would often tell her grandchildren stories of when their parents were little and enjoyed the time spent with them.

Thelma is survived by her three sons, Michael (Susan) Janssen, Mercedes, Texas, Mark (Sue) Janssen, Mason City, Terry (Bonnie) Janssen, Waterloo; and daughter, Diana (Michael) Lage, Sheffield; nine grandchildren, Jim (Lori) Bridgewater, Ashlie Janssen, Jennifer Janssen and boyfriend, Ian Obrecht, Amy Anne Janssen and boyfriend, Derek Pike, John Robert Janssen, Sara (Steve) Ott, Suzy Janssen, Brandon Lage and Tyler Lage; two brothers, Stewart Soma, Grand Junction, Colo., and Maynerd Soma, Kiester, Minn.; and many nieces, nephews, and friends.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Bob, in 2003. She has been ready to go home to be with her Lord and Bob since that time and we know that they are now reunited.

Also preceding her in death were her parents and an infant daughter.

Sheckler Colonial Chapel, Nora Springs, (641) 749-2210.

www.colonialchapels.com

Published in the Globe Gazette from 6/10/2006 - 6/11/2006.