Kathryn Gunderson
GUNDERSON, STORTROEN, NELSON, SHELDON, DAVIES, TAURO, HAAVE
Posted By: Sarah Fletcher (email)
Date: 1/15/2023 at 05:49:36
Kathryn Gunderson, who went by Kathy to most and Kate to her close work friends, passed away peacefully early on December 21 with her daughters by her side. Kathy was a spiritual and introspective person, and it was fitting that she passed on the winter solstice.
Kathy was born and raised in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, a town which she loved deeply and always dreamed of returning to one day. She was the oldest child of Kenneth and Edna Gunderson and older sister to John. Her home on Lakeside Drive was in close proximity to her beloved Great Aunt Emma (Stortroen) and Grandmother Clara (Nelson). After graduating from Fergus Falls High School in 1963, she attended Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, then Winona State University where she graduated in 1968 with a degree in Biology.
It was in the Biology department at Winona State where she met her future husband and the father of her daughters, Allen Blake Sheldon. They were married in 1968 and daughters Beth and Lynn were born in 1978 and 1979, respectively. After a few years in Springbrook and Maquoketa, Iowa, the couple settled in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where Kathy attended the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse to receive a degree in Dietetics. While the marriage did not last with Blake, a lifelong love and companionship did, including spending every holiday and special occasion together with their daughters.
Kathy had a number of jobs and careers throughout her life, but she retired from the one she enjoyed most: a nutrition educator for the University of Wisconsin Extension system.
Kathy was extremely proud of her 100% Norwegian heritage and talked of it often. When she said “uff da,” it was not ironically. She spared her daughters from lutefisk, but lefse at every holiday meal was a must. A lifelong dream was fulfilled when she traveled to Norway in 1998 with her brother John, who was her best friend and greatest supporter.
Kathy was also passionate about animals and nature. She never met a dog she didn’t love and always had one in her life. She was known to bring home cats or dogs she had discovered abandoned or injured and pour everything she had into nursing them back to health. For many years she and the girls cared for four cats and two dogs in their small home. Perhaps her favorite pastime was walking her dogs or splitting an ice cream cone with them in a local park.
Kathy loved to laugh and was, as she always put it, “prone to hysterics.” She always worked hard and took great pride in caring for her home. She was fiercely independent and instilled that same strength in her daughters. She loved to learn and was an avid non-fiction reader, especially on environmental issues, Native American cultures, and religions of the world. She was a self-proclaimed daydreamer and would often be lost in her own thoughts. She was a poet, writer, musician, and artist, exploring those interests throughout her life. She was also deeply sentimental and purposeful in teaching her daughters to honor family and heritage.
Kathy is survived by her daughters, Beth Davies (husband Mike and sons James and Connor) of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Lynn Sheldon (daughters Kiran and Leela Tauro) of Coralville, Iowa, and her lifelong companion Allen Blake Sheldon of Trempealeau, Wisconsin. She was preceded in death by her mother Edna (Haave) Gunderson, father Kenneth Gunderson, and brother John Gunderson.
A graveside committal ceremony is planned for this spring at Oak Grove Cemetery in Fergus Falls, Minnesota.
Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service
Johnson Obituaries maintained by Cindy Booth Maher.
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