Luella Kaeding Nielsen, 83, Albert Lea
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, June 4, 2003
The funeral service for Luella Kaeding Nielsen will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 7, at Trinity Lutheran Church, Albert Lea. The Rev. Curtis Zieske will officiate. Burial will be in Hillcrest Cemetery. Visitation will be one hour before the service at the church. Bonnerup Funeral Service is in charge of the arrangements.
Luella died on Sunday, June 1, 2003, at the Good Samaritan Center, Albert Lea. She was 83 years old.
Luella was born in Mankato on August 23, 1919, the daughter of Arthur and Meta (Wolter) Kaeding. Because her father, Arthur, died of the Spanish influenza before she was born, the only father she knew was John Nielsen whom her mother married in 1924.
Luella began school in Mankato but moved to Albert Lea with her parents in 1926. It was there that she completed her grade and high school education, graduating as valedictorian of Albert Lea High School in 1937. She continued her education at Dana College, Blair, Neb., from which she received a B.A. degree and at the University of Minnesota from which she received an M.A. degree. She did post graduate work at both the University of Wyoming and at the University of Vermont.
Miss Nielsen taught high school at both Pender and Blair, Neb., and then was a professor of English for many years at Dana College from which she retired. After her retirement she continued to teach part time until the early 1990s. She then took great pride in being the necrologist of the Danish Immigrant Archive at Dana College where she served as a volunteer.
During her academic career, Miss Nielsen was active in the American Association of University Professors, the American Association of University Women, the Midwest Modem Language Association, the Washington County Teachers Association, the Lutheran Daughters of First Lutheran Church in Blair and the Washington County Democratic Party.
Teaching, reading and travel were her great delights, winning her the appreciation of decades of students both in high school and college. For her career as a teacher, she was designated a distinguished alumna of Dana College.
Luella was preceded in death by her parents; a brother, Norman; and two sisters: Marion Hansen and Elizabeth Anne Pedersen.
Luella is survived by two brothers: John of Blair, Neb., and James of Munster, Ind.; two sisters: Eleanor Schou of Albert Lea, and Margaret Rodenburg of Centerville, Ohio; sisters-in-law: Elizabeth (John) and Christine (James) Nielsen; brothers-in-law: Donald Schou, Gary Hansen of Baileys Harbor, Wis., Walter “Bill” Rodenburg, and Michael Pedersen of Lee’s Summit, Mo.; 29 nieces and nephews; 27 great-nieces and -nephews; and one great-great-nephew.
Memorials may be designated to Dana College, the Danish Immigrant Archive or Trinity Lutheran Church where Luella retained her membership from the time of her confirmation in 1933.