GUNDERSON, Maxine Delores 1925-2001

STRAND, WRIGHT, GUNDERSON, INGVALSON, HOPPERSTAD

Posted By: IA GenWeb Volunteer
Date: 10/10/2010 at 19:12:47

Decorah Journal, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2001

Maxine Gunderson

Maxine Gunderson, 75, of Mabel, Minn., died Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2001 at the Green Lea Manor Nursing Home in Mabel.

Memorial services were held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 17 at the Mabel First Lutheran Church, with Revs. Gene and Allen Hermeier co- officiating.

Burial of the cremains was at 10 a.m. Saturday at Mabel Lutheran Cemetery, with Mengis Funeral Home in Mabel in charge of the arrangements.

Maxine Delores Gunderson was born March 7, 1925 in rural OSSIAN, the fourth and youngest child of George and Lettie (Strand) Wright.

She grew up in Northeast Iowa, graduating from Waukon High School in 1942.

She married Jerome Gunderson on May 30, 1943 at First Lutheran Church in Decorah, and five children were born to their union.

Maxine Gunderson was proud of all five "kids" and their spouses. She often said she could have never picked such wonderful mates for her children as they did themselves.

The Bible verse "The Lord is my light and my salvation" carried her through many leadership positions in her lifetime. She was a Sunday School teacher both in Waterloo Ridge and Mabel First Lutheran Churches, and held offices in the women's groups of both churches.

She was a 4-H leader in Iowa and Minnesota, held offices in a farm organization, political party and an insurance agent's union at a time when women rarely did such things, all while raising a family and helping with her husband's business. God truly gave her the strength to do it all.

Surviving Maxine Gunderson are her husband, Jerome Gunderson of Mabel; four sons: Gary and Cheryl Gunderson of Canton, Minn.; James and Sheree Gunderson and Tony and Myrna Gunderson, both of Mabel, Minn.; and Jerry Wayne and Sonya Gunderson, of Des Moines; one daughter, Jean and Terry Ingvalson of Mabel; fourteen grandchildren; Gary and Renee Gunderson, Desi Sherman, Travis Sarita and Wayne Gunderson; Jennifer, Ian and Cory Gunderson; Quincy, Trista and Casey Ingvalson and Hunter and Benjamin Gunderson; her mother, Lettie Wright of BURR OAK; two brothers, Vernon and Bayonne Wright of BURR OAK and Calvin and Jeanne Wright of Dorchester; and sister Norma Hopperstad of DECORAH.

Maxine Delores Gunderson was preceded in death by her father.

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