GRACE NIELSEN

Rolfe - Grace Nielsen, age 94, died on March 16, 2007, at the Rolfe Care Center. Funeral services were Tuesday, March 20, 2007, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Rolfe, with the Rev. Keith Sievers officiating. Burial was in the Clinton-Garfield Cemetery in Rolfe.

Grace Wilma Nielsen, "Grandma Cookie," was born on October 20, 1912, to Frank and Mable (Yoakum) Nielson, near Graettinger, in Emmet County. She attended country school in Emmet County. She worked in Ringstead in a restaurant and was in charge of making the pies each day. She married August (Sunny) Nielsen on December 17, 1930, at the Methodist parsonage in Emmetsburg. They lived for a few years in Emmetsburg before moving to a farm near Rolfe in 1935. Grace and Sunny had three daughters, Dolores (George) Swan of Lead Hill, Ark., Maxine (Dale) Johnson of Rolfe, and Darlene (Jerry) Donovan of Grimes.

Grace joined the Lutheran Church at Rolfe in 1936, and was very active with the church activities, until her later years. Grace kept busy on the farm with a large garden, canning, cooking, baking and fixing hair for friends and neighbors. She enjoyed spending time with her family and friends. She lived as a farm wife until 1969, when they moved into Rolfe. She then pursued her hobbies of cooking, gardening, ceramics and bowling.

Grace is survived by two daughters, Dolores and Darlene; 12 grandchildren; 31 great-grandchildren; nine great-great grandchildren; sisters, Christina Halstead of Emmetsburg, and Geraldine Baily of Reno, Nev.

Grace was preceded in death by her husband, Sunny; daughter, Maxine; her parents; four brothers and three sisters.