Nora C. Jepson, 83, Albert Lea

Published 12:00 am Thursday, August 28, 2003

Funeral services for Nora C. Jepson, age 83, of Albert Lea, will be at 10 a.m. Friday Aug. 29, at Grace Lutheran Church in Albert Lea. The Rev. Todd Walsh will officiate. Interment will be in Lakewood Cemetery. Visitation will be at Bayview/Freeborn Funeral Home in Albert Lea, from 4-7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28, and one hour prior to the service at the church on Friday.

Nora Jepson passed away peacefully, after a brief illness, surrounded by her family, at St. Marys Hospital in Rochester.

Born Nora Christina Reistad on Oct. 18, 1919, she was the youngest child of Tosten and Inga (Madson) Reistad. She attended school in the Hartland and Glenville area, graduating the eighth grade in District 10 at Hartland and attending Freeborn High School. Nora was confirmed in the Lutheran Church in 1933.

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Nora was married to Leonard Otto Jepson, the son of Marius and Martina (Jorgenson) Jepson on Feb. 6, 1938, in Northwood, Iowa, in a judge’s home. Nora and Leonard were, until her death, faithful members of Grace Lutheran Church in Albert Lea.

Nora worked for 12 years at Hill’s Gardens, where she learned to love and care for plants and flowers. Then, in 1962, she began working at St. John’s Lutheran Home in Albert Lea. It was with both joy and sadness that she retired from the home 32 years later, in 1994. Nora loved working with plants and doing embroidery. She made pillowcases, scarves, tablecloths and towels by the score, and enjoyed giving them and plants away to family and friends. She was also known for her skill in cooking, particularly for her expertise in making lefse.

She was preceded in death by her parents; sisters: Margaret, Gladys and Mildred; brothers: Theodore, Edward, Maynard and Kenneth; and son-in-law, Charles Schroeder.

She is survived by her husband, Leonard; two daughters: Ruth Ann (Larry) Majeski of Wells, and Doris (Tom) Bartholomew of Belle Plaine, Minn.; one sister, Irene (Ervin) Pietan of Wells, and one brother, Vernon (Ethel) of Waseca. She had seven grandchildren: Lisa Johnson, Douglas Schroeder, Sherry Bartholomew, Blaine Schroeder, Justin Bartholomew, and Troy and Chad Jenson. Nora left 13 great-grandchildren: Nicholas and Christina Johnson, Kendra and Kellie Schroeder, Angela, Brooke and Annie Schroeder, Kasey, Tyler, Damion and Andrew Jenson and Dylan and Brittany Jenson.

Honorary pall bearers will be her grand and great-grandchildren.