Dorthea Vernetta (Larson) Nikolaisen was born July 30, 1922, to Emma (Knutson) and Carl A. Larson in Clarkfield, Minnesota. She was the youngest of 12 children. She attended District 29 School by riding horse drawn wagons and Model Ts with her brothers and sisters. She would hide her long underwear in the ditch on the way to school only to put it on again before she got home (so ma would never know). She had a couple neighbor boys that she and her sister would peek out the window at when they came up on the place. She married one of them in a few years.
Dorothy graduated from Clarkfield High School in 1941. She then married the neighbor, Merle Nikolaisen on January 1, 1944. Following a stint in the army for Merle, they lived on their farm south of Clarkfield. They were the parents of two children.
Merle and Dorothy moved to Clarkfield in 1986 to take it easier a bit. The oldest child, Jerry, lives on the farm with his wife, Patricia (Strand). Julie is their daughter and her husband, Jim Friberg.
Dorothy was a happy lady who made you happy. She loved her children and grandchildren and still got down on the floor and raced with her great grandchildren until recently. "Uffda!" they called her Grandma Uffda. She had a great art of conversation and could talk with anybody and within minutes they would be smiling. Merle said she was the perfect wife, Jerry said she was the perfect mom and the grandkids say she was the perfect grandma. She will be remembered with love, respect and a smile. She was not afraid to die and she was welcomed into heaven by her mother, father and all her siblings.
Dorothy passed away on Sunday morning, May 18, 2008, at the age of 85 years, 9 months, and 18 days.
Those waiting to join her in heaven are her loving husband, Merle; her two children: Jerry (and wife Pat) and Julie (and Jim); and her three grandchildren: Nathan, Nicole and Anthony. She is also survived by four great grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents; 11 siblings: Ellen Hanson, Esther Kompelien, Emil Larson, Grace Anderson, Ruth Nelson, Ruby Gordon, Edith Berg, Velmin Larson, Olaf Larson, Lloyd Larson and Gladys Soppeland; and other extended family.
Blessed be her memory.
--jhlynner.com