Details

Collection Summary
Collection: FND001 - SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program
Series: Tribute
Folder: DIG
Item: 271834
Title: Anna M. Nelson
Date: 9/12/1923-7/17/2020
Creator:
Inscription/Marks: 9/12/1923
Summary: Anna M. Nelson, 96, Williston, ND, passed away July 17, 2020, at the Bethel Lutheran Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in Williston. Her funeral was held July 21, 2020, at the Everson-Coughlin Funeral Home Chapel in Williston with Rev. Jeanne Madsen officiating. Interment was in Riverview Cemetery. Anna Mercedes Stangeland was born September 12, 1923, to Alfred and Thomine (Svendson) Stangeland. She was the seventh and youngest child of Norwegian immigrants who were homesteading near Williston. She was the only girl of the five that had dark hair and not red and her sisters always teased her saying the gypsies left her on their doorstep. She attended Twin Buttes School until 1931 when her oldest sister, Grace, took a teaching job and being so young and living in a teacherage, their parents sent Anna to be her companion and student. She later worked at Montgomery Ward in Williston selling shoes. In 1942 she went out to Oregon and became a nanny for the Simon family, caring for the future Senator Paul Simon. She returned to North Dakota and on March 5, 1944, married Bennie H. Nelson. They resided on the Nelson homestead with his parents, Berner and Sigrid (Hagen) Nelson, farming and raising cattle. They had four children, Richard, David, Carol and MaryAnn. Anna was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, great- grandmother, great-great grandmother, and aunt. She was also a great cook and tried to make everyone’s favorite Norwegian goodies, especially at the holidays. We always looked forward to her angel food cake that was made for many birthday celebrations. She cooked breakfast, dinner and supper (lunch was for the morning and afternoon coffee breaks for anyone around the farm). Over the years she brought hundreds of meals out to the fields during harvest. Bennie passed away June 24, 1972, and she was left to raise MaryAnn. In 1973 Anna and Mary started their love of traveling adventures to visit Anna’s sisters in New York and Oregon, something she continued doing over the years. One of her highlights was a trip to Norway with her brother Arnold and his wife where she connected with cousins. She took many trips with Mary and her family with numerous visits to Disney World. At 80 she was still doing every ride with the grandkids from the teacups to Space Mountain. She was always up for a jaunt out of town. Anna married Selmer T. Nelson on November 4, 1978, and he passed away March 23, 1980. Anna was a past member of Faith Lutheran Church where she was involved in Ladies Aid. She was currently a member of First Lutheran Church. In the past, she was involved with Women of the Moose, Rebekah’s, Sons of Norway, and was a Den Mother for Richard and David in Cub Scouts. She was the best gramma you could ask for. She loved when the grandkids would come for their daily visits and made sure she had a snack for them. She saved every article and sporting event that her grandchildren and great-grandchild was involved in. Anna is survived by her sons, Richard and David (Jean); here daughters, Carol (Lyle) White and Mary (Dale) Engelbrecht; grandchildren, Rianna (Adam) Brunelle, Cindy (Mike) Wolery, Eric (Kara) Nelson, Chris (Tami) Nelson, Alissa Thiessen, Jody White, Julie (Tom) Woodward, Nathan White, Jace and Alexa Engelbrecht, and Kristi Nelson; great-grandchildren, AJ and Rylin Brunelle, Emma and Liam Wolery, Addison and Jordan (Katelyn) Nelson, Amanda Nelson, Hailey and Landon Thiessen, Alicia (Cletus) Reed, Janessa and Jayden Woodward, and Kasey Nelson; great-great-grandchildren, Eli Nelson and Mayia Erickson; and several very special nieces and nephews. Anna was preceded in death by her husbands, Bennie H. Nelson and Selmer T. Nelson; grandson, Barry Nelson; her parents, Alfred and Thomine Stangeland; in-laws- Berner and Sigrid Nelson; and sisters, Grace (Marion) Miller, Astrid (Gosta) Bohman, Inga Gladys Little, and Clara (Bob) Rissberger DeCuman; brothers, Arnold and Thomas Stangeland; sister-in-law, Mollie (John) Flath; and brothers-in-law, Arnold Nelson and Margo Claycomb.
Red ID: FND_I_79329 Image ID: 537993 Image Notes: FND001 271834

Collection: FND001 Digitized Images from Collection
Title: SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program
Date: -

Summary: The North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program is sponsored by the North Dakota Funeral Directors Association. The life stories of deceased North Dakotans are featured in an archvied collection. Current partners in the project are Eastgate Funeral & Cremation Services, Bismarck Evans Funeral Homes, Carrington and New Rockford Everson-Coughlin Funeral Home, Williston Fulkerson Funeral Home, Tioga Fulkerson Funeral Home, Watford City Fulkerson Stevenson Funeral Home, Williston Nero Funeral Home, Bottineau Parkway Funeral Service, Bismarck Springan Stevenson Funeral Home, Stanley Stevenson Funeral Home, Dickinson These funeral homes provide recent obituaries to the Foundation, where staff and volunteers format, edit and archive each memorial. The memorials are posted, and copies are sent to the family for their input and approval. The listing currently features more than 13,000 memorials, and is constantly updated as new memorials and histories are received.

Enter a subject or term in one or both of the “Search” boxes.

  • “Item Detail” searches the Title, Creator and Summary fields of all item-level records.
  • “Collection Number” searches the Collection Number field only and requires an exact match.

The “DETAILS” button provides additional information about an item, as well as the following options:

  • “Collection Summary” details the contents of the entire collection in which the selected item is located.
  • You can print the image and its corresponding details by selecting “Print".
  • “Digitized Images from the Collection” returns a list of all digitized items within that collection (available from the “Collection Summary” screen).

Click on image to expand/zoom the image view.

“Photobook home” takes you back to the main Photobook page where you can start a new search.

“Featured Collections” showcases new and/or popular collections and the digitized images within those collections.

Information on how to order copies is located here.

The collections preserved in the North Dakota State Archives include over a million images. Only a small percentage of these images have been digitized. This photo gallery provides a preview of the images that have been digitized.

For more information on the non-digitized images, please refer to the finding aids found on our website at history.nd.gov, or ask a member of our reference staff for assistance.