Robertson, Opal E (Sommervold) 1918-2005

ROBERTSON, SOMMERVOLD, ABRAHAM, PUTTMANN, WILKENS, LUCKEN, ABRAHAMSON, DEAN

Posted By: Bruce Atkinson (email)
Date: 11/22/2007 at 13:19:00

Opal E. Robertson
AKRON, Iowa -- Opal E. Robertson, 87, of Akron passed away Sunday, Dec. 4, 2005, at Akron Care Center.
Services will be 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Union Creek Lutheran Church in rural Akron, S.D., with the Rev. Jean Morse officiating. Burial will be in Union Creek Lutheran Cemetery. Visitation will be after 3 p.m. today, with the family present after 6 p.m. and a prayer service at 7 p.m., at Carlsen Funeral Home-Schroeder Chapel in Akron. Condolences may be sent online to carlsenfuneralhome.com.
Opal E. Robertson was born May 1, 1918, on the family farm in Union County, S.D., the daughter of Alfred and Olivia (Abraham) Sommervold. She was baptized and confirmed into the Christian faith. She attended West Union Country School in South Dakota. She later went to work for Wincharger Company in Sioux City and later for Moir Implement.
She met and was united in marriage to Jay Robertson on June 8, 1949, at Union Creek Lutheran Church. Together, they are the parents of three children, JoEllen, Beth and Denise. The couple farmed in Union County, S.D. and later in Plymouth County, Iowa, for many years. After retiring from farming, they moved to Marcus, Iowa, and owned and operated the Marcus Laundromat. In 1973, they moved back to Akron. She worked as a housekeeper for the Akron Care Center and was a member of the care review team and would often play the piano for the residents. Later, she started a drapery business with her friend, Marcine Hansen, at the age of 60. She continued to make and hang drapes until she was 72. Her husband passed away in 1984. Most recently, she was a resident of Akron Care Center.
She was a longtime member of the Union Creek Lutheran Church, where she was active in Bible Study and the W.E.L.C.A. She was also a 24-year member of the American Legion Auxiliary in Akron. She will be remembered for her pies, baked bread, especially her lutefisk and flat bread, her gardens, canning and her quilting and sewing skills. She sewed many outfits for her three daughters and later for her granddaughter, Carrie.
She loved music. She and her sister, Pearl, sang many a duet together. She could play just about any song on the piano, she was a talented musician. She loved people and was always baking or making items to give to someone else.
But most of all and greater than anything else, she was the "Best Mom" to her three daughters. "Never under estimate the power of a mother's love." She also carried this love to her husband, Jay, son-in-law, Rich, and the absolute "Joy" of grandma's life, her granddaughter, Carrie. She dearly loved her wonderful nieces and nephews, Warren, Darla, Alan, Maryann, Peter, Jon, Sara, Mark, Wendy, Faye, Pat, Becky, Bob, Nancy, Don and their spouses and children.
Her faith in Jesus Christ was very evident even until the very end of her life. She was a servant and loved her church and her community of Akron.
Left to cherish her memory are her two daughters, JoEllen and her husband, Rich Puttmann of Sioux City and Becky [Beth] Robertson of Sioux City; a granddaughter, Carrie Puttmann of Sioux City; a brother, Arlo Sommervold and his wife, Mary of Sioux Falls, S.D.; a sister-in-law, Gertrude Sommervold of Akron; a brother-in-law and his wife, Calvin and Derith Robertson of Akron.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; a daughter, Denise in 1962; a sister and her husband, Pearl and Hank Wilkens; a brother, Alvin Sommervold; a sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Bud and Darlene Lucken; a nephew, Mark Lucken; a sister-in-law, Marjorie Robertson; and her father-in-law and mother-in-law, John and Ruth Robertson.
A very special thank you to the Akron Care Center, Akron Mercy Medical Clinic, Thorson Drug, Hospice of Siouxland, those who gave care to Opal and Beth while living at home. And to Union Creek Lutheran Church and the community of Akron, "There's No Place Like Home."
Pallbearers will be Warren Wilkens, Alan, Peter and Jon Sommervold, Robert and Donald Robertson. Honorary pallbearers will be Lloyd Miller, Ray Heeren, Donald and Robert Abraham, Brad Vreugdenhil and Myron Seely.
__________________________________________________
Sioux City Journal (Sioux City, Woodbury County, Iowa) of 06 December 2005.