Dorothy B. Thomas

Dorothy Bernice Thomas, age 103 of Cannon Falls, died on Thursday morning, October 10, 2024 at Cannon Rivers Senior Living.

Dorothy was born on September 8, 1921 in Edgar, Wisconsin, the daughter of Carl B. and Ludmila (Loskot) Luedtke. She grew up in Edgar and attended school at Scotch Creek. She went to nanny in Chicago for a time before returning to Wisconsin. She glued raincoats in Wausau during World War 2, which is when she met her future husband, Edward at a dance. She married Edward Thomas on June 22, 1946 and lived in Milwaukee and Wausau, later farming in Owen, WI. They moved to Fairmont, MN, and settled in the Cannon Falls area in 1955. She stayed at home with their five children until they were in school. She then worked as a waitress at Edgewood Restaurant for over 30 years.

Dorothy enjoyed dancing, gardening and baking, and had won many ribbons at the Cannon Valley Fair for her flowers, cream puffs, and other entries. She also sold raspberries to locals.

She will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by her children, Roger (Catherine), Eugene (Cheryl), Gary (Melissa), Shirley Thomas, and Barbara (Jerry) Nappin; her ten grandchildren, Lorrie (Bill) Stafford, Blaine (Jennifer), John (Karen), Christine (Dave) Veldhuizen, David, Cassandra (Andy) Tsai, Rachel (Nick) Seim, Shanon (Tesha) Ramstad, Naomi (Jeff) Gardner, and Nicole (Josh) Holz; 22 great-grandchildren, and 8 great-great-grandchildren; sister, Carol Miersch; and many nieces, nephews, and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband Edward on May 25, 1993; sisters, Marcella Williams, Jeanette Luedtke, Irene Johnson, and Audrey Houden; and brothers-in-law, Gerald Williams, Marvin Johnson, Kenneth Houden, and Jim Miersch.

Her funeral service will be held on Monday, October 21 at 11:00 am, with visitation from 10-11 am, at Urland Lutheran Church. This service will be live-streamed and available to watch below. Interment will follow at the church cemetery.

Active pallbearers will be her grandchildren.

Memorials may be given in Dorothy's name to Urland Lutheran Church.

LIVESTREAM INFORMATION: For those who would like to participate in Dorothy’s service via livestream, you can watch the service on Monday, October 21 at 11:00 am. It can be viewed by scrolling to the bottom of this page and click PLAY to begin. Please leave a message of support on our Tribute Wall to let the family know you were able to watch the service. If you are having troubles with the Livestream, the service will be available to watch later in the day.