Collection: FND001 - SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program
Series:
Tribute
Folder:
DIG
Item:
11219
Title:
Stella C. Anderson
Date:
1917 - 2010
Creator:
Inscription/Marks:
9/17/1917
Summary:
Stella Christine Wrolstad Anderson, 92, Williston, ND, died February 15, 2010 in Williston. Funeral services were held at Ray Lutheran Church on February 19, 2010. Pastor Steve Anderson and Rev. Muriel Lippert officiated. Interment was in the Rainbow Valley Cemetery.
Stella was born on September 17, 1917 at rural Epping, the daughter of Nels and Ragna Wrolstad. She was baptized at Bethany Lutheran Church, rural Epping. We will miss your smile, your spark and the twinkle in your eye.
Stella remembered her early childhood as being happy and some memories that stood out were having to learn the Catechism in Norwegian and a summer when the locusts were so bad that they came in a swarm like a moving blanket, eating everything in their path. Life started out well with her brothers and sisters but it became a struggle upon her mother’s death when she was 17. She instantly became mother to her 7 brothers and 2 sisters. Then her beloved father died just a few years later. Stella felt that she and her siblings probably wouldn’t have survived without their parents if her father hadn’t taught her brothers to be good hunters, and taught her how to make rabbit stew and cook frog legs from frogs caught in a nearby pond. She was also employed by the National Youth Administration during World War II.
Stella attended grade school in Stewart School at rural Epping. This was the same school that her husband and all 6 of her children attended. She met the love ofher life, Alvin Anderson, while playing softball with her girlfriends. She said she fell in love with Alvin because he was such a good dancer. They started their lives together on October 8, 1940. Their first child, Shirley, was born in 1943, at less than 5 pounds. Stella remembered putting Shirley in a shoebox and setting her by the stove to keep her warm. Eventually their family grew to six children, 4 girls and 2 boys and has now expanded to 19 grandchildren, 37 greatgrandchildren and 3 great-great-grandchildren.
Stella had a passion for reading and loved music of all kinds. Stella supported Alvin’s efforts in politics by managing the farm and the children while he was traveling. Everyone had to pitch in to get the chores done. Stella remembered taking care of her infant nephew while his parents took an older child to have treatments for polio. Because she had just had her third child, she was able to nurse both of these children and keep them content!! When her sister, Mavis, had 2 children with health problems, Stella and Alvin took on the parental role and cared for the other 3 children for extended periods of time while their parents were away seeking medical help.
Stella taught her children the value of helping others. She was willing to help during a farming bee, at school socials and by teaching Sunday School. Their farmstead seemed to be a gathering place for friends and relatives. It was a place where neighbors came to borrow a tool or equipment, get advice, a good cup of coffee or a helping hand. Stella was a member of the Oli-Rain Birthday Club and the Rainbow Valley WELCA. She was an avid quilter for her family and also for Lutheran World Relief. She was also a current member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Williston.
Her Christian faith helped her to weather life’s hardships that included the unpredictability of farming, illness, and death of loved ones. Their son Curtis was in Vietnam and they worried constantly
about his safety. They were there to support their oldest granddaughter, Wendy, when she was diagnosed and treated for a malignant brain tumor at 9 years of age. The greatest tragedy in her life was when her daughter Shirley died of leukemia in 1993.
Stella liked to have fun. She took time out of her busy day to play a game of Monopoly and encouraged her children to pick out books from the Bookmobile. She allowed her children to use their imaginations by turning the kitchen into a grocery store or the garage into a racetrack. She taught us that recreation could be both educational and challenging whether all eight of us were going to the Seattle World’s Fair or the local card party on a Friday night. She taught us the beauty of nature while watching a sunset, a golden wheat field, or making dolls out of hollyhock flowers. She taught us we were important when she took time to wash and iron curtains for our playhouse or prepared many meals for family and friends.
After Alvin and Stella retired they traveled all over the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. They also visited relatives in the Scandinavian countries. They spent 20 winters in Arizona where they loved walking, golfing, and swimming. Stella was known as a pool shark in Arizona. She also learned to paint beautiful landscapes in her retirement.
A popular saying says, “A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in or the kind of car I drove…but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.” Stella dedicated her life to her children, her community and to her beloved husband, Alvin. Being a grandma was such a joy to her. She made each grandchild feel special. She loved playing Rummikub, Perfection and other games with the grandchildren. She made each of them a special quilt. Her humor and love for life continued even during her last day of illness when she was blowing kisses to those in the hospital room with her. Her last wish was to go home to the farm and we will honor her wishes by driving through the farmstead on the way to the cemetery. Stella was greatly loved and will be sorely missed by her family and friends.
She is survived by her husband of nearly 70 years, Alvin; children, Kayleen Njos, Williston, Curtis (Betty) Anderson, Williston, Bruce (Joy) Anderson, Williston, Alyce (George) Killmer, Minot, ND and Valerie (Arden) Eide, Van Hook, ND; 19 grandchildren; 37 great-grandchildren; and 3 greatgreat-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her brothers, Olaf, Melvin, Roy, Obert, Elmer, Orville and Chester Wrolstad; her sisters, Dora Farver and Mavis Olson; her daughter, Shirley; and her grandson, Timothy.
Red ID: FND_I_61983 Image ID: 522149 Image Notes: FND001 11219
