Opdahl, Peter Lewis 1885-1975

OPDAHL, PEDERSEN, OLSON, DAILEY, MARTIN, RUSSELL, BURCH, SLIFKA, LANDE, CLEMENTS, ROSELAND, KRAXNER, AKRE

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 4/13/2012 at 09:01:08

The Grinnell (IA) Herald-Register; March 3, 1975

PETER OPDAHL SERVICES SET

Peter Lewis Opdahl, 89, of Davenport died Saturday morning at a Davenport nursing home.

Funeral services for Mr. Opdahl will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Smith Funeral Home, with the Rev. Hugh A. Shiveley, pastor of the First Baptist church, officiating. Organist will be Mrs. Willard Heffner, and pallbearers will be Chellis Gehle, George Lebeda, Bob Kraxner, David Opdahl, Jack Opdahl and Frank Zimmerman. Burial will be at the Story City Cemetery.

The son of Olie and Bertha Pedersen Opdahl, he was born June 8, 1885, in Kvitsoy, Stavanger, Norway. When he was three years of age, he moved with his family to Grinnell, where he attended public schools.

On Dec. 30, 1905, he was married to Bertha C. Olson in Marshalltown. The couple had three children, Agnes, Ernest and Blanche. His wife died Dec. 30, 1912. On Aug. 2, 1916, he was married to Mary Elizabeth Dailey in Marengo. The couple had one son, Lewis. Mrs. Opdahl died Dec. 21, 1933. On Aug. 22, 1935, he was married to Maude C. Martin Russell in Rock Island, Ill. the couple had one daughter, Betty.

Mr. Opdahl worked for the Great Western Railroad and later farmed. He had lived in the Grinnell and Malcom areas most of his life. Since 1973, he had lived in Davenport.

Survivors include his wife, Maude; four children, Ernest of Des Moines, Blanche Burch of Davenport, Lewis of Albert Lea, Minn., and Betty Slifka of Sauk Centre, Minn.; nine grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and three half-sisters, Emma Lande of Sioux Falls, S.D., Jennie Clements of Marshalltown, and Olga Roseland of Grinnell. He was preceded in death by his wives, Bertha and Mary; one daughter, Agnes Opdahl Kraxner; two brothers, Bert and Ole Opdahl; and one half-brother, Perry Akre.