Funeral services for 72-year-old Charlotte Holmquist of St. James, Minnesota will be at 10:30 a.m. on Friday morning, January 6, 2017, at First Lutheran Church in St. James with Reverend Maggie Cumings officiating. The church is located at 719 6th Avenue South.
Burial will follow at Mount Hope Cemetery in rural St. James, located south of the city on Watonwan County Road #27.
Visitation will be on Thursday, January 5, 2017, at Sturm Funeral Home-St. James Chapel, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. The funeral home is located at 906 10th Avenue South.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.sturmfh.com.
Charlotte Rae Holmquist passed away on Saturday, December 31, 2016 at North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale, Minnesota with her family at her side.
Charlotte Rae Nelson was born at the Saint James Hospital to Ervin and Myrtle (Wright) Nelson on September 5, 1944. With her parents and three older brothers, Gene, Jerry and Russ, she grew up on the Nelson Family Farm in South Branch Township. Her father, Ervin, passed away on May 18, 1949 after a short illness. Charlotte, her mother, and brothers continued to live and work the farm, which is still owned by the family today. Together they raised, corn, soybeans, Holstein and beef cattle, sheep, pigs and thousands of chickens each year. She always said, “We were poor, but we never knew we were poor.”
Despite the hard work on the farm, she was a 10-year member of the Nifty Thrifty 4-H Club, where she won an overall championship in bread-baking. She attended Country School until fifth grade when she started at the Saint James Public Community School. Charlotte and her classmates were the first to graduate from the new Saint James High School in 1962.
On May 26, 1968, Charlotte married Donn Holmquist at First Lutheran Church in Saint James. Donn and Charlotte were blessed with two children, Teresa and Craig. The Holmquist family made their home in Saint James until 1979, when they moved to an acreage near Godahl, Minnesota.
In September 1962, Charlotte began working at the ASCS (Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service) Office in Watonwan County. She worked there until the birth of her daughter in 1970. She came back as temporary help on occasion until 1982, when she returned for a three-month appointment. Those three months turned into 23 years. She worked at Watonwan County ASCS Office, which is now the Farm Service Agency (FSA), for a total of 30 years. Not long after her return, she was given the task of implementing the first computer system into the FSA Office. She worked with automation, farm records and compliance programs until her retirement on January 7, 2005.
After retirement, she enjoyed meeting on the first Wednesday of each month with the other “FSA Ladies” and their spouses for lunch at various locations throughout the area. She also looked forward to her monthly lunches with her “old school friends” and her sister-in-law, Judy.
Charlotte loved to read and passed this love on to her children. She was an early user of an e-reader, yet a traditional paper book was never far away. A farm girl at heart, and from her years at FSA, she loved looking at aerial photos, often using Google Maps just to see what the land looked like from the air.
Charlotte is survived by her husband, Donn and daughter Teresa Holmquist, both of Saint James; son Craig, of Richfield, Minnesota; brother, Jerry (Roberta)Nelson; sister-in-law, Judy Nelson; nieces and nephews, Randy (Pam) Nelson, Jill (Mark) Runge, Trent (Karie) Nelson and Jenny (Kevin) Harbitz all of Saint James, Scott (Jerilyn) Nelson of Hudson, Wisconsin, Tracey (Lon) Peterson of Mankato, Minnesota, Dan (Heidi) Nelson of North Mankato, Minnesota and Gina (Jeff) Welsh of Missoula, Montana; grandnieces and nephews and many cousins.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Ervin and Myrtle Nelson; brothers, Eugene and Russell Nelson; father- and mother-in-law, Ted and Erin Holmquist and brother-in-law, Wayne Holmquist.