Selma Willmette Oppedahl Summers, 89, Albert Lea

Published 12:00 am Monday, September 30, 2002

The funeral service for Selma Willmette Oppedahl Summers of Albert Lea will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 2, at the First Lutheran Church in Albert Lea. The Rev. John Holt will officiate. Interment will be in Lakewood Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4-6 p.m. on Tuesday at Bonnerup Funeral Service, Albert Lea, and one hour before the service at the church.

Selma died on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2002, at St. John’s Lutheran Home in Albert Lea, where she had been a resident since May 3, 1995. She was 89.

Selma was born on June 26,1913, in Fertile, Iowa, Grant Township, the daughter of Andrew O. and Elise (Severson) Oppedahl. She grew up on a farm near Fertile, Iowa, and was baptized and confirmed in the Christian faith in Fertile Lutheran Church. She graduated from Fertile High School in 1931, and attended St. Olaf College, Northfield.

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Selma was married to Ralph C. Summers on June 26,1934, at the Little Brown Church, Nashua, Iowa. They lived in Blooming Prairie and Hastings, a, where Ralph was a teacher/coach. They later moved to Albert Lea where Ralph was a teacher/coach and became athletic director. Selma was a tremendous support to her husband, and was involved in many community activities. She was a member of First Lutheran Church where she was active in First Lutheran Women, Ladies Aid, and Mission Society. She had been active in the Naeve Hospital Auxiliary Pink Ladies, American Association of University Women, Faculty Wives of Blooming Prairie, Hastings, and Albert Lea, National Congress of Parents and Teachers, Albert Lea North Side/Hawthorne P.T.A., The Tuesday Literary Club, Albert Lea Travel Class and the Sons of Norway. She also enjoyed Civic Music events.

Selma is survived by one son, Ralph C. Summers Jr. and his wife Ardis of Carlisle, Iowa; and two granddaughters: Kristen and Karmen.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Ralph, in 1992; three sisters: Minnie Oppedahl, Esther Oppedahl, and Ellen Pfaltzgraff, one brother, Arthur Oppedahl; and three brothers who died in infancy, Oscar, Edwin and Clarence.