LUNDBERG, Agnes (VOLD)
VOLD, LUNDBERG, ERICKSON, LEEPER, PERRY, ROBERTS, KAISER
Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 12/10/2013 at 11:26:21
Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
August 25, 2011Obituary - Agnes (Vold) Lundberg
February 07, 1914 ~ August 16, 2011Agnes Vold Lundberg, 97, of Mason City, Iowa, formerly of Windom, Minnesota, died Aug. 16, 2011, at Muse Norris Hospice Inpatient Unit in Mason City.
A gathering in honor of Agnes was held Saturday at Major Erickson Funeral Home in Mason City, which handled the funeral arrangements. Prior to the gathering, a private family graveside service was held at Elmwood-St. Joseph Cemetery in Mason City.
Agnes Vold was born Feb. 7, 1914, to Ole and Olea Vold in Windom. At age 6, Agnes began sewing doll clothes which eventually lead to her career in fashion. Later, during Agnes's employment in a Windom dress shop, the age of "ready-to-wear" fashions was just starting, which Agnes helped progress. After teaching country school in a one-room schoolhouse in Cottonwood County, Agnes moved to St. Paul where she worked for Montgomery-Ward as its first female buyer and manager.
In 1941, she worked as a dress buyer with the D.K. Lundberg & Company chain in Iowa and Minnesota, based in Mason City.
Agnes married D.K.'s son, Marcus, and then the couple operated the store together until Marcus's death in 1966. Agnes continued to maintain an active role in the store's operation with her sons, John and Mark. She remained a driving force of Lundberg's House of Fashions for over 60 years.
Agnes also enjoyed traveling throughout the world.
In addition to her husband Marcus, Agnes was preceded in death by her siblings: Peter Vold, Clara Erickson, Arthur Vold, Albert Vold and Olga Leeper.
Survivors include her four children: John (Marty) and Mark (Kendall) Lundberg, all of Clear Lake, Iowa; Mary Perry of Huntington Beach, Calif.; and Christine (David) Roberts of Cedar Falls, Iowa; nine grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; a sister-in-law, Shortie Vold, and a niece, Joanne Kaiser, both of Windom.
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Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
August 18, 2011
by Kristin BuehnerLongtime women's clothing retailer
Agnes Lundberg remembered as a true ladyMASON CITY — Mason City fashion retail icon Agnes Lundberg was remembered by friends Thursday as a true lady.
Lundberg, owner and buyer for the former Lundbergs Women’s Clothing store, died Tuesday at the age of 97 following a fall.
The store, located at 28 E. State St., closed in 2005. It was founded by David “D.K.” Lundberg in 1920.
“She was a real, real lady,” said Colleen Boyle, of Mason City, a sales associate at Lundbergs for 20 years. “She was very professional.”
Working at Lundbergs opened up a life she would never have known, Boyle said. “I met people I would never have met.”
Boyle said she last visited with Agnes Lundberg in mid-July.
“I thanked her for employing me,” she said.
Longtime friend Betty Burley of Mason City, a retired teacher, said Agnes Lundberg was a very private person who loved Lundbergs store and worked hard there.
“She was very fair,” Burley said. “She had lots of friends.”
Mark Lundberg of Clear Lake said his mother lived independently at her home in Mason City until about a month ago.
She had fallen and broken her pelvis in recent weeks and didn’t do well after that, he said.
Agnes started out as a teacher in a one-room school, but decided she liked the ready-to-wear clothing business better, Mark Lundberg said.
“She continued in it for over 60 years.”
She was introduced to her future husband, Marcus Lundberg, son of founder David Lundberg, when she interviewed at the store in 1941, said her daughter Chris Roberts of Cedar Falls.
“They were married shortly thereafter.”
When her husband died in 1966, Agnes took over the store and sons John and Mark joined her.
Over the years, Agnes Lundberg dressed a lot of women who came from as far as Minneapolis, Mark Lundberg said.
“Women appreciated the service we had and the selection of clothing.”
His mother had a knack for the clothing business, Mark Lundberg said.
“She would look at clothing and could tell if it was constructed correctly.”
Lundberg said his mother and several other professional women in Mason City were hand-picked by former Globe Gazette publisher Lee Loomis in 1960 to start a chapter of Pilot Club International, a professional women’s service club.
“It was quite prestigious,” Lundberg said.
Son John Lundberg of Clear Lake, said his mother had “a wonderful sense of fashion” and was able to understand what people wanted.
“She liked dressing up but she didn’t like overdone,” he said. “She said, ‘If you can take something off and it looks right, leave it off.’ ”
Transcriptions by Sharon R. Becker, December of 2013
Cerro Gordo Obituaries maintained by Lynn Diemer-Mathews.
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