PAULSON, Clarice "Kelly" (RANUM)

RANUM, PAULSON, KRAMER, GREGERSON, MEIER, THRONSON, CLEVELAND

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 3/26/2018 at 15:15:44

Obituary ~ Clarice "Kelly" (Ranum) Paulson
December 06, 1916 ~ May 26, 2006

The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
Thursday, June 01, 2006

MASON CITY — Clarice (Kelly) R. Paulson, of Mason City, Iowa, died May 26, 2006, at the Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa in Mason City.

Memorial services for Kelly Paulson will be held at 3 p.m. on Friday, June 2, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Mason City with the Rev. Kathy Graves officiating. Visitation will be held today at Major Erickson Funeral Home, 111 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Mason City, from 5 to 7 p.m.

Kelly was born in Northwood, Iowa, on Dec. 6, 1916, the daughter of A.B. Ranum and Clara Ranum.

Following graduation from Northwood High School, she entered the University of Wisconsin at Madison and graduated in 1939 with a degree in related art, the focus on interior design. In her freshman year French class, she met her future husband. In 1940, Kelly married Dr. Jerome (Jerry) F. Paulson, the love of her life. After Jerry’s service in World War II and his subsequent orthopedic training, the Paulson family moved to Mason City in 1951. Jerry practiced orthopedic surgery with Surgical Associates at Mercy Hospital until his death in 1973. After Jerry’s death, Kelly worked at Kellum Interiors, then, Professional Design L.C. as an interior designer for more than 20 years.

Beloved wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, Kelly was a gifted woman of boundless energy, creative spirit and intellect and passion for living. She remained vital and engaged with her family, friends and community until the day she died. Kelly contributed to Mason City civic life in a wide range of pursuits and served as a dedicated board member of the Charles H. MacNider Art Museum, the Frank Lloyd Wright Stockman House, the Mason City Planning and Zoning Commission, the YWCA, Girl Scouts and other organizations. For 15 years, she served on the architectural review committee of Asbury Farm.

Loving all things beautiful, Kelly was particularly dedicated in later life to the MacNider Art Museum which she helped found. She served for 20 years as an active board member and also served as the docent for the Stockman House where she created and maintained the cutting gardens and bouquets, and procured the home’s furnishings. For her work at the Stockman House, Kelly was awarded the Friend of Preservation Award in 1999 by the River City Society of Historic Preservation. She was a devoted member of Trinity Lutheran Church and committed to Hospice of North Iowa.

At home, Kelly loved her gardens, dogs, music, books, parties and art of all kinds. She remained interested in and informed about finance, farming, trees and other matters of local and national interest. Always eager to learn and experience things firsthand, the all-Norwegian Kelly traveled to Italy, Mexico, Greece and Scotland in her ninth decade.

First and foremost, Kelly loved her family intensely and maintained a close relationship with friends old and new. Generous in spirit and young in heart, she strove for excellence in herself, her family, those around her and in all that she did. Kelly believed that, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21). She will be forever loved, long remembered and deeply missed.

Kelly is survived by her daughter, Mary Kramer, of Rockville Centre, N.Y.; daughter, Jane Gregerson, and her husband, David, of Minneapolis, Minn.; son, Eric, of St. Louis Park, Minn.; grandchildren, Daniel Gregerson, and his wife, Cari, of Minneapolis, Minn., Anne Gregerson of Minneapolis, Minn.; one great-grandson, Henry; and one sister, Janice Meier, and her husband, Robert, of Gainesville, Fla. She was preceded in death by her husband, Jerome; her parents, A.B. and Clara Ranum; her sister, Joan; her brother, Wayne; and half-sisters, Randine Thronson and Agnes Cleveland.

Memorials preferred to: MacNider Art Museum Acquisition Fund, Frank Lloyd Wright Stockman House Gardens and Furnishings Fund, or Hospice of North Iowa.

Major Erickson Funeral Home, (641) 423-0924.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, March of 2018