Eleanor Opal (Brogan) ALDEN THOMSEN

THOMSEN, BRAGA, BROGAN, ALDEN, LYNCH, BUSEMAN, WOLKIN

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 8/8/2010 at 09:59:36

Mason City Globe Gazette, Iowa
February 5, 1997

July 31, 1900 -- February 4, 1997

GARNER, IA -- Eleanor Thomsen, 96, of Garner, died Tuesday (Feb. 4, 1997) at North Iowa Mercy Health Center East, Mason City. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the United Methodist Church with the Rev. Robert T. Ellis as officiant. Burial will be in Pleasant View Cemetery, northwest of Thornton. Visitation will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. Friday at the Cataldo Funeral Chapel.

Eleanor Opal Thomsen, the daughter of Jesse and Ann (Braga) Brogan, was born July 31, 1900, near Meservey in Cerro Gordo County. At the age of 6 she moved with her family to a homestead west of Thornton. She attended the rural schools and graduated from Thornton High School. After receiving her teaching certificate from Ellsworth College in Iowa Falls, she taught in the rural schools of Franklin County. On Jan. 15, 1920, she was married to George Alden in Cerro Gordo County. They farmed in the North Iowa area for many years. To this union four children were born, Eldridge, Frederick, Carroll and Robert. In 1942, Eleanor returned to Thornton and operated the Thornton Convalescent Home. On Aug. 28, 1944, she was married to Chris T. Thomsen in Mason City. They lived in Waterloo until Jan. 15, 1959, when they moved to Garner and purchased the Garner Locker Plant, which they operated until retiring in 1976. In February of 1992, they moved to Prairie View Apartments. In July of 1994, Eleanor moved to Concord Care Center due to ill health. She died Tuesday, Feb. 4, 1997, at North Iowa Mercy Health Center in Mason City.

She enjoyed visiting her family and friends and was an avid Hawkeye football fan. She was a member of the United Methodist Church and U.M.W. and a former member of Eastern Star Lodge.

Survivors include her son, Eldridge Alden and his wife, Gladys, of Garner; her daughter, Carroll Lynch and her husband, Marshall, of Hesperia, Calif.; two stepchildren, Franklin Thomsen and his
wife, Rose Mary, of Davenport, and June Buseman and her husband, Arthur, of Kesley; a daughter-in-law, Maxine Alden of San Benito, Texas; eight grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and a sister, Hazel Wolkin of Tucson, Ariz.