Gudrun "Goodie" Myhre Portmann

PORTMANN, PORTMAN, MYHRE, BRUNSVOLD, HOEL, TREDWAY, TREADWAY, KALTVEDT, CRIM

Posted By: Merllene Andre Bendixen (email)
Date: 2/8/2014 at 14:15:16

Gudrun Portmann
Estherville – Memorial services for Estherville native Gudrun Myher Portmann, 95, will be held Tuesday, August 1 at 11:30 a.m. at the Estherville Lutheran Church. She died on December 4, 1994 at Sacred Heart Hospice in Austin, Minn., where she resided for the past six years. Her ashes are interred at Estherville Northside [Lutheran] Cemetery alongside her husband.

She was born on October 17, 1899, the daughter of Estherville pioneer farmes Ole and Gundhild (Brunsvold) Myhre who had settled on 130 acres northwest of Estherville in 1878. She was the last surviving member of the Ole Myhre generation. Her family will commemorate her passing and the passing of a generation in the memorial service at the church where she was baptized in 1899.

She graduated from Estherville High School, attended St. Olaf College for three years and graduated from Mankato State College with a degree in primary education. She taught elementary school in Madelia, Glenville and Currie, Minn.

She married Reginald Harold [Harold Reginald] Portmann in Estherville on July 16, 1927. They lived in Currie, where her husband was postmaster, until 1937 when they purchased the Kickapoo Scout newspaper in Soldiers Grove, WI.

They co-published the country weekly newspaper until his death in 1959, and she moved to Estherville to be near her extended family. In 1972, she relocated to Blooming Prairie, Minn.

She was a member of First Lutheran Church in Blooming Prairie and a former member of the Estherville Lutheran Church. In Soldiers Grove, she was an active member of the American Legion Auxiliary, the PTA and Our Saviors Lutheran Church.

She is survived by her daughter, Mrs. Janice (Milo) Hoel of Blooming Prairie, her son, Edward Portmann of Irvine, CA.; six grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.

Also, nieces Mrs. Norma (Rod) Tredway of Estherville; Mrs. Marion (Lester) Kaltvedt of Spirit Lake; Mrs. Lavonne Crim of San Marcos, TX; Mrs. Delores Rogers of Phoenix, AZ; two nephews, Stanley and Marvin Myhre of Estherville.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband and her brothers and sisters. (Estherville Daily News, Estherville, IA, July 26, 1995)