TOLLEFSON, Myrtle (nee Blakestad)(Neeley) 1902-2000

BLAKESTAD, NEELEY, TOLLEFSON, WILLIAMS

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 12/13/2009 at 13:10:22

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Myrtle Tollefson Funeral To Be October 13 [2000]

Funeral services for Myrtle Edris Blakestad Neeley Tollefson, 98, of St. Ansgar, who died Saturday, October 7, 2000, will be held Friday, October 13 at First Lutheran Church at 1 p.m. with the Reverend Robert Porisch officiating.

Myrtle was born July 3, 1902 at Adams, Minnesota, third eldest child of the eight children of Oliver and Lona (Williams) Blakestad. She was baptized and confirmed by Reverend Elmer Moe in 1916 at Our Saviors's Lutheran Church, Lyle, Minnesota. She received her early education in the Lyle Public Schools, graduating in the class of 1920. She enrolled in Nurses Training School at St. Olaf Hospital, Austin, Minnesota, graduating in the class of 1925. She receiver her RN degree and practiced her profession for a number of years.

While she was employed in California she married Victor I. Neeley Jr. of St. Louis, Missouri October 19, 1929. A son was born to them. Victor K. Neeley III, November 5, 1930. After several years this marriage ended in divorce.

Myrtle and son returned to Minnesota in 1937. She was employed at St. Olaf Hospital for a year, then was on the nursing staff of Mitchell County Memorial Hospital, Osage, 1938-1941.

Myrtle married Luther T. Tollefson of St. Ansgar on March 4, 1941. They had no other children. Myrtle returned to nursing in 1969 and was on the nurses staff at the St. Ansgar Good Samaritan Center for four years. She retired in 1973.

Luther and Myrtle Tollefson sold their farm in 1975 because of Luther's failing health. They bought a house in St. Ansgar. Luther died April 9, 1978. Myrtle continued to live in her home until September 1985 when she sold her home and moved into Worth Living Center. Following a broken hip in 1990 she moved to the St. Ansgar Good Samaritan Center where she lived until her death.

Myrtle was a long time member of the St. Ansgar Women’s Club and the St. Ansgar Post of the American Legion Auxiliary and a member of the Rebecca Circle of the First Lutheran Church.

Myrtle is survived by her son, Victor Neeley and wife Dorothy of Kennewick, Washington; three grandchildren, Brenda Neeley, Linda Hernandez, and Jeffery Neeley; two great grandsons, Christopher Rose and Douglas Samson, Jr., all of Kennewick, Washington; two sisters, Loreen Greiner, Canby, Minnesota; and Lona Davidson, Green Bay, Wisconsin, nieces and nephews including Glenda Belz, Laverne Blakestad, David Falk and Joyce Persson.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Luther, sisters, Esther Falk, Mable Reistad and Lenore Meyers, and brothers, Raymond and Lewis Blakestad.

(St. Ansgar Enterprise, St. Ansgar Museum Collections)

NOTE: The obituary erred by not citing Janice or Dorothy (nee Falk) as nieces.

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Photo from First Lutheran Church directory - 1970.

Mitchell Obituaries maintained by Sharyl Ferrall.
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