Mardelle Knudson
Funeral services were held Thursday, June 3, 2010, at Bethany Lutheran Church, Rugby, for Irene Mardelle Knudson, 77, of Rugby, who died Monday, May 31 at the Heart of America Medical Center.
Burial was in Tunbridge Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery.
Mardelle was born Feb. 21, 1933, in Rugby, a daughter of Edwin and Ruth (Sand) Jelsing. She was raised in Rugby, and graduated from Rugby High School in 1951. During high school she was employed as a secretary for Ray Friederich, Dr. Carl Weimer, and Merchants Bank. She married Norman Knudson on June 31, 1953, in Rugby. After their marriage they lived on the Knudson farm at Brinsmade, East Grand Forks, and Rugby. In the fall of 1959, they moved to Spokane, Wash. They were divorced in 1969. She was employed by the File-Easy Folder Company and Logan Hurst Health Care in Spokane. She moved to Rugby in May of 1999, where she lived at the Harold S. Haaland Home. In the fall of 2007, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She lived at the Haaland Home until January of 2010, when she entered the Long Term Care Unit.
She was a former member of St. Peter Lutheran Church, Spokane, and a current member of Bethany Lutheran Church.
She is survived her children, Evonne Dalton, Missoula, Mont., Diane Nance and Kenneth Knudson, both of Spokane; five grandchildren; five great grandchildren; one brother, Lawrence Jelsing, Kennewick, Wash.; and two sisters, Ann Goetz, Rugby, and Judith Larkin, Colfax, Wash.
She was preceded in death by her parents.
Rev. Sharon Baker officiated. Music was provided by Teri Shomento, soloist, and Dianne Montonye, organist.
Casketbearers were Gerald Harmel, Dwight Jelsing, Janice Knutson, Joyce Kruckenberg, Peggy Oksendahl, and Delmer Ostrem.
Arrangements by Niewoehner Funeral Home, Rugby.