Funeral services for 95-year-old Opal Nelson of Mountain Lake, Minnesota, will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning, June 18, 2016, at First Lutheran Church in Butterfield, Minnesota. The church is located at 450 2nd Street South.
Interment will be in Butterfield City Cemetery, located on Watonwan County Road #5, south of Butterfield and Minnesota State Highway #60.
Visitation will be at the church the day of the funeral service from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Sturm Funeral Home is handling the funeral arrangements.
Opal Nelson passed away peacefully on Friday, June 10, 2016 at the Good Samaritan Society of Mountain Lake-The Village.
Opal was born on September 20, 1920, in Butterfield, the daughter of David P. Derksen and Emelia Albertina (Ekstrom) Derksen. She had one sibling, an older sister, Agnes Echo (Derksen) Raney. Opal was baptized and confirmed at First Lutheran Church in Butterfield. She graduated from Butterfield Public High School in May 1938.
Opal Estelle Derksen and Donald Edmund Nelson were married on June 25, 1940, at First Lutheran Church in Butterfield. Opal’s husband, Donald Nelson, served on a ship in the United States Army Signal Corps during World War II. During the war, Opal lived for a time in New Orleans, Louisiana with Donald, while he was not at sea. After the war, the couple and their baby daughter, Mavis Ann Nelson, lived briefly in Mankato, Minnesota.
Donald was killed in a tornado in August 1946 while driving from Mankato to Butterfield. After Donald’s death, Opal and Mavis moved to Butterfield, where they lived with Opal’s parents.
Opal enjoyed sports in her childhood and throughout her life. As a young girl, she liked to roller skate and play baseball, kittenball (softball), dance and participate in many other sporting activities. Opal passed her love of baseball on to her grandson, Kirk. She and Kirk traveled all over the country to watch the Minnesota Twins play baseball.
Opal liked to travel. Her trips included Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand. With good friends Herzchal and Tina Milligan, she took RV (recreational vehicle) trips to Canada, Branson, Missouri, and the Ozark Mountains. With her daughter and family, she traveled to Mexico and even let her grandchildren talk her into going para-sailing in Acapulco.
Opal also loved fishing. SunDown Resort on Clark Lake in Nisswa, Minnesota was an annual family vacation destination for many years with her daughter and family. Opal often took grandchildren, Kirk and Karina, for fishing, weiner-roast picnics and ice-skating at Butterfield Lake.
Opal was a Card Shark. She loved to play Rummy, Whist and 500. She and her mother, Emelia Derksen, belonged to a Whist club for decades. With her daughter and family. she played many, many games of Rummy, even up to 10 days before she died.
She was a lifelong member of First Lutheran Church, Butterfield, where she sang in the choir (singing being another of her favorite activities) and was active in the Butterfield Community Club Auxiliary. She was a mainstay at the First Lutheran Church and Butterfield Community Club Auxiliary food stands at the Butterfield Threshing Bee for many years. Opal attended every one of the 49 Threshing Bees since its inception in 1967, and she had been looking forward to attending the 50th anniversary Bee this August.
Opal was a caregiver to many friends and home-bound people in the Butterfield area – driving folks to doctor’s appointments and to visit family and friends. Opal had wanted to attend college and become an elementary school teacher, wanting specifically to teach first and second grades. She did not achieve this goal, but fulfilled her desire to teach young children by teaching Sunday School for decades at First Lutheran Church in Butterfield.
Opal worked at the State Bank of Butterfield for many decades. She started at the bank as cashier, ultimately attaining the title of Vice-President.
Survivors include her daughter, Mavis Ann Anderson of Washington, D. C.; her grandchildren, Kirk Robert Lund (Kimberly Kay Knesting-Lund) of Lake Mills, Wisconsin and Karina Ann Lund (David Egan) of Quincy, Massachusetts; step-granddaughters, Sarah Jennifer Coleman (Timothy Coleman) of Forest Lake, Minnesota and Susan Mary Anderson of Denver, Colorado; great-grandchildren, Maya Emelia Lund Egan, age 11, Lyla Ann Lund Egan, age 5 and Vanessa Nicole Knesting Lund, age 1; step-great-grandson, Ethan Jack Coleman, age 9; her nephews, David G. Raney (Dorothy) and Lauren L. Raney (Evah); her cousin John Ekstrom, plus many beloved great-nephews and great-nieces.
She was predeceased by her husband, Donald Edmund Nelson (August 1946); sister, Agnes Raney; brother-in-law, Donald G. Raney; parents, David P. and Emelia A. Derksen and husband’s parents, Franklin A. and Lydia C. Nelson. Among her many friends, she was predeceased by Mary Ravenberg, Mary Dettman, Genevieve Hollenitsch and others.
Opal’s family and loved ones express their gratitude for everyone’s comfort, support, and sympathy, to the First Lutheran Church community and pastor, and to the staff for the loving care that Opal received at the Good Samaritan Society of Mountain Lake-The Village and The Lodge.
