Rygh, Wanda V. (1924-2018)
RYGH, QUAM, KNUDTSON, KALLESTAD, TIEG, REIMERS, WEDEL, REUTER, CAGLEY, BUCKNELL, TRUEG, LAMOS
Posted By: Paul Nagy (email)
Date: 2/23/2018 at 21:21:05
Wanda V. Rygh
August 26, 1924 - January 29, 2018Wanda (Quam) Rygh, 93, of rural Rake, Iowa, died on Monday, January 29, 2018, at the Timely Mission Nursing Home in Buffalo Center, Iowa.
The eldest daughter of Oscar E. “Butch” and Lillian (Knudtson) Quam, Wanda Violet, was born on August 26, 1924, at Rake, Iowa. Baptized and later confirmed in her faith at Zion Lutheran Church in Rake, she became a lifelong member. Always ambitious, Wanda worked summer vacations and holidays at her cousin Melvin Kallestad’s restaurant in Rake and at her aunt Jeanette Oswald’s restaurant in Anoka, Minnesota. In 1941, while still sixteen years old, she graduated as valedictorian of her Rake High School class and entered Waldorf College in Forest City, Iowa. The following year she taught country school grades 1 through 8, riding her bicycle from Rake to the school a few miles south of town.
On June 16, 1944, Wanda married Lloyd Rygh at the First Lutheran Church parsonage in Albert Lea, Minnesota. They, then, proceeded to the Terp Ballroom in Austin, Minnesota, where Lloyd’s cousin, Fritz Rygh, and his Scandinavian Orchestra were performing. They began their married life in Pasco, Washington, where Lloyd was receiving advanced flight training with the U.S. Navy. Following his deployment as a carrier pilot in the south Pacific, Wanda returned to Rake to work at the State Savings Bank.
After the war, Wanda and Lloyd moved to naval bases in Maine and Virginia before returning to Rake to farm. While she had never expected to play the role of a farm wife, she embraced it, learning to drive tractors, cultivate crops, pick corn, and bale hay, all while raising five children and participating in church, school, and family activities.
In 1998, Lloyd was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig disease). Wanda became his primary caregiver until his death in 2002. Since then, she had made her home at her farm home, surrounded by her family, flower gardens, and cats.
Wanda was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Lloyd; her sisters, Opal Tieg and Virginia Reimers; her brothers, Gerald and Lyle Quam; and her granddaughter Emily Wedel. She is survived by her daughters, Linda (husband, John) Reuter and Suzanne (husband, Frank) Wedel; her sons: Ronald, Thomas, and Lance Rygh; seven grandchildren: Amy (husband, Brian) Bucknell, Daniel (wife, Nicole) Cagley, Adam (wife, Tonya) Lamos, Vicki (husband, Scott) Trueg, and Charles, Eli, and Zach (wife, Rene) Wedel; and eleven great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held at 11:00 A.M., Saturday, February 3, 2018, at the Trinity Lutheran Church, 10681-500th Street, Thompson, Iowa 50478, with Pastor Katie Pals officiating. Visitation will be held from 5:00 to 7:00 P.M., Friday, February 2, 2018, at the Mittelstadt Funeral Home, 902 East Main Street, Lake Mills, Iowa 50450, and also for one hour before the service at the church on Saturday. Burial will be in the Trinity Church Cemetery, rural Thompson, Iowa.
She will be missed by all.
Mittelstadt Funeral Home, Lake Mills, Iowa, 2017.
Winnebago Obituaries maintained by Cheryl Siebrass.
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