FJELSTUL, Ellen Leona (Johnson) 1920-2000

ENERSON, JOHNSON, FJELSTUL, DEVRIES, HAMRE

Posted By: IA GenWeb Volunteer
Date: 9/26/2010 at 20:15:21

Decorah Public Opinion, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2000

Ellen Fjelstul

Ellen Fjelstul, 80, of Ridgeway, died Dec. 7, 2000, at Gunderson Lutheran Medical Center in LaCrosse due to a lung infection.

The funeral was Monday, Dec. 11 at 11 a.m. at Peace Lutheran Church in Ridgeway. Rev. Phillip Olson and Rev. Ginny Olson officiated.

Pallbearers included: Leslie Fjelstul, Clifton Fjelstul, Dale Quass, Loren Johnson, Kenneth Nesvik and Harris Wemark.

Organist was Martha Olson. The congregation sang "From Heaven Above," "Softly and Tenderly," "Who Is This Host" and "When Peace Like A River."

Burial was at Lincoln Cemetery in rural Ridgeway. Fjelstul Funeral Home of Decorah handled the arrangements.

Ellen Leona (Johnson) Fjelstul was born on June 8, 1920 in Springfield Township to Gustave and Gunhild (Enerson) Johnson. She was baptized into the Christian Faith at Washington Prairie Lutheran Church, Decorah, on July 11, 1920 and later confirmed her faith on June 3, 1934. She was educated at the Nordness School in the Springfield Township.

On Sept. 10, 1940, she was united in marriage with Curtis Julian Fjelstul at Silver Lake Lutheran Church in Northwood, Iowa. The couple had two children, Sandra Fay and Curtis JeRay.

Ellen Fjelstul was a member of Lincoln and Peace Lutheran Churches.

Over the years, she served as church custodian, Sunday' School teacher, choir member and member of the Ladies Aid/WELCA and Deborah Circle. For the past several years, she made the Baptismal blankets for baptisms at Peace.

She resided in Lincoln Township near Ridgeway where she and her husband farmed until retirement. For many years Ellen Fjelstul worked at home as a seamstress and taught various sewing classes in Ridgeway, Calmar, Fort Atkinson and Postville. Later, she turned to crafting and then to Rosemaling, which she had enjoyed the last number of years.

In the last two years she fulfilled her dream of a nice lawn and lovely flowerbeds, as she had always liked flowers. She welcomed company and her coffee pot was always on.

She is survived by her children: Sandra Fjelstul, of Minneapolis and Curtis and Connie Fjelstul of Grand Rapids, Mich.; two grandchildren, David and Beth Fjelstul of Loveland, Ohio and Chad and Kimberly DeVries of Grand Rapids, and four great-grandchildren, Brennan and Colin DeVries, and Samuel and Grace Fjelstul.

Ellen Leona (Johnson) Fjelstul was preceded in death by her husband, Curtis Fjelstul, on April 28, 1995, her parents, Gustave and Gunhild Johnson, and four brothers, Obert, George, Emmett and Norman, and one sister, Margreth Hamre.

Transcribed by an IA GenWeb Volunteer from obituaries found in the Howard-Winneshiek Genealogy Society Library, Cresco, Iowa.