Charlene Florance (Blomberg) ANDERSON

BLOMBERG, ANDERSON, ROSENDAHL, GREBNER, SEWELL, DILLEY, ROSSITER, DOYEN, DEYOUNG, LEE

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/10/2024 at 13:06:54

May 22, 1931 ---- March 16, 2018

It is with great sadness that the family of Charlene Florance (Blomberg) Anderson announces her passing on Friday, March 16, 2018 after a short illness at the age of 86 years. Visitation will be at Oakcrest Funeral Services in Renwick from 5:00 to 7:00 PM on Wednesday, March 21, 2018. A memorial service will be held at 11:00 AM on Thursday, March 22, 2018 at the St. Paul Lutheran Church in Renwick. Burial will take place at a later date at Otis Grove Cemetery in Dows.

Charlene was born in Manson, Iowa on May 22, 1931 to Emil and Helena (Rosendahl) Blomberg. She was the younger twin to a brother Charles, and 8th in a family of 10 children. The family later moved to Pocahontas and she was confirmed on March 30, 1947 at St. Peter's Lutheran Church. After graduating from Pocahontas High School in 1949, Charlene moved to Popejoy, and after a brief stint working in a hardware store, she became a nanny. While living in Popejoy, she met her husband Harry D. Anderson. They attended many church functions together and enjoyed singing in the church choir. Charlene married "the best baritone in the choir" on March 6, 1953 in Alden at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, and they established a home near Dows. They had a son, Bernard in 1956, and a daughter, Lori in 1959.

The Andersons spent a year in Coos Bay, Oregon, before returning to rural Iowa, where Harry found work as a farm mechanic. Charlene cared for the house and the children, platted a large garden, and canned the harvest. They joined Renwick's St. Paul Lutheran Church, sang in the choir, taught Sunday school and served on many church committees. In 1969, she started work at Tiny's Café in Renwick, and cooked there for a number of years.

Her entire life, Charlene always wanted to take care of people, so when the Clarion Hospital offered her a job in Physical Therapy Department, she accepted. She started in 1972, and loved every minute of the work. In 1991, Harry has a stroke, and she retired from the hospital to take care of him. It wasn't long before she was not only caring for Harry in the big brick house in Renwick, she was taking care of the neighborhood children as well. Over the next eight years, Charlene was "Grandma" to 27 children.

After Harry's death in 1998, Charlene moved to Eagle Grove. She was soon demand as an in-home elder care provider, and she continued to find ways to care for people through her baking, sewing, and companion care until the day she went home to be with her Lord.

She will be lovingly remembered by her daughter, Lori and husband Michael Grebner of Parkston, SD; daughter-in-law, Stacy Anderson of Council Bluffs; five grandchildren, Brandon Grebner, Jessica Grebner (Special friend Andra Sewell), Kelly Anderson, Kris Anderson, Kayla (Derek) Dilley; nine great-grandchildren, and sister, Elsie Rossiter of Arizona. Charlene was preceded in death by her husband, son, Bernard Anderson, her parents, brothers, Ernest, Elmer, Charles, and Robert; and sisters, Mabel Doyen, Lilian DeYoung, Loretta Blomberg and Viola Lee.

http://www.oakcrestfuneralservices.com/obituary/248838/Charlene-Anderson/