Faldet, Melbourne Oliver -- 1918 - 2005
FALDET, MUSSER, BAKER, OLSON, HEGTVEDT, LUBKE, BAKKEN, STEINES
Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 7/23/2012 at 17:10:01
Melbourne O. "Mel" Faldet, age 87, of Decorah, Iowa, died Tuesday, June 28, 2005 at Aase Haugen Home in Decorah.
Funeral Services will be held at 11:00 A.M. Friday, July 1, 2005 at Canoe Ridge Lutheran Church, rural Decorah, by Rev. Susan K. Debner, with burial in the church cemetery.
Friends may call from 4:00-8:00 P.M. Thursday, June 30, 2005 at Fjelstul Funeral Home in Decorah and an hour prior to the services on Friday at the church.
Melbourne Oliver Faldet was born June 27, 1918, the third of the four children of Nels O. and Grace R. (Musser) Faldet of Canoe, Iowa (Pleasant Township of Winneshiek County). He was baptized on August 11, 1918 and confirmed on July 3, 1932 at Canoe Ridge Lutheran Church, rural Decorah. Mel grew up in Canoe, where his parents ran the Canoe Store. He attended Pleasant Township School #7 and graduated from Decorah High School with the class of 1936.
Mel taught at Pleasant Township School #10 until he enlisted for service in 1942. After serving stateside for two years, he served overseas in Guam as part of the 39th Bomb Group of the Air Force, servicing B-29s. He returned home after the war, in January 1946.
Mel married Virginia Baker on June 14, 1946. To this union four children were born: Mary, Cynthia, David, and Mark. Mel began his 37-year career with Northwestern Bell Telephone Company. After living three years in Waverly, Iowa, the couple returned to Decorah.
The family had a 20-acre farm on Locust Road where Mel enjoyed gardening and the kind of outdoor work he knew as a child. He also enjoyed fishing, history, and genealogical work. After retiring from the phone company in 1983 Mel purchased an acreage in Pleasant Township where he rebuilt a pioneer log cabin. He enjoyed dancing at the Highlandville school and other venues where his wife played the piano. He moved to the Aase Haugen Home in 2003.
Mel was an active and lifelong member of Canoe Ridge Lutheran Church, a congregation his grandparents helped found. He served many years on the board of the Decorah Public Library. He was instrumental in the campaigns to finance the library addition and to restore Winneshiek County's civil war memorial.
Mel passed away on Tuesday, June 28, 2005 at the Aase Haugen Home, in Decorah, after celebrating his 87th birthday with family and friends.
Mel was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Virginia on October 12, 1993, a daughter Mary Rebecca Faldet on October 4, 1971, brothers Arnold and Dervin, sister Alphea Olson, brothers-in-law Ole Bakken, Julian Hegtvedt, Steve Baker, Fred Lubke, Robert Baker, and Homer Olson, and sisters-in-law Pauline Bakken, Florence Hegtvedt, Emma Baker, Alice Lubke, Dorothy Baker, and Irene Faldet.
He is survived by his three children, Cynthia (Merl) Steines, David (Rachel) Faldet and Mark Faldet, grandchildren Benjamin and Rebecca Steines, and Elizabeth and Pearl Faldet, a great granddaughter, Kassidy Steines, a sister-in-law Phyllis Faldet, all of Decorah, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Source: Fjelstul Funeral Home database
Canoe Ridge Lutheran cemetery
Winneshiek Obituaries maintained by Bruce Kuennen.
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