Funeral services for Gilma Johnson, 89, will be held at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Alden at 1 p.m. on Tuesday July, 9, 2002. Burial will be at Graceland Cemetery, Albert Lea. Visitation will be at the Bonnerup Funeral Home in Albert Lea from 6-8 p.m. Monday and one hour prior to the services at the church. Gilma died Saturday, July 6, 2002, at Thorne Crest Retirement Center, where she had been a resident for the past 3-1/2 years.

Gilma was born Dec. 24, 1912, in Worth County, Iowa, the daughter of Henry and Julia (Sorbo) Wangsness. Gilma was baptized and confirmed at Emmons Lutheran Church and attended school in Worth County, Iowa. She married Melvin (Moody) Johnson on March 23, 1946, in Kiester. They lived in Alden 28 years before moving to 706 Third Avenue South in Albert Lea in 1973. Gilma was a member of the Ladies Aid at First Lutheran Church in Alden, a past member of the Alden Legion Auxiliary, and a charter member of Redeemer Lutheran Church. She was a devoted housewife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother who enjoyed spending time with her family, cooking, gardening and nature, especially birds.

Gilma is survived by a daughter, Loleen Lindeman and her husband, Robert, of Albert Lea; two granddaughters, Kristi Westover and her husband, William, of Lexington, S.C., and Valerie Blanton and her husband, Michael, of Minneapolis; a great grandson, Jack Robert Westover; a brother, Walter Wangsness and his wife, Alpha, of Clarks Grove; a sister-in-law, Germaine Wangsness of Albert Lea; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband of 49 years, Melvin; two sisters, Etta and Bernice; and five brothers, Alton, Otto, Herman, George, and Clarence.

Gilma will be sadly missed by her family and friends. God bless her memory.