1922
Helen
2007
Helen Klefstad
April 18, 1922 — February 3, 2007
Helen Klefstad died on February 3, at peace and surrounded by her family, in Friendship Village in Bloomington. She was 84.
Helen was born in Duluth in her parents? home in 1922, the much-adored youngest daughter of Marie and Olaf Melby. Her closest companions growing up were her older brother and sister, Arne and Martha; she remembered fondly their family time at the rustic lake cabin near Duluth where she helped in the garden and dreamed and read in the grove of white pines near the lake. When she was 13 years old the family moved to Cleveland. There she took the math prize in her high school and attended Flora Stone Mather College at Case University on a scholarship. She majored in nutrition and became a dietitian.
Meanwhile she had met a young medical student from Duluth, Lloyd Klefstad, who was attending medical school at Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Over several years of long walks and tin roof sundaes their relationship grew. In 1943 Lloyd graduated medical school and began an internship as a Navy doctor in Long Beach, California, prior to shipping out for the Philippines. Helen journeyed out to Long Beach by train, sitting up in a coach seat for 3 days, and married him.
After Lloyd?s return from the war, Helen and Lloyd eventually settled in Greenbush, Minnesota, where together they established a medical practice and general surgery, building a 40-bed hospital and nursing home, and working together for 27 years. They had 5 children in Greenbush?Karen, Randi, Lloyd Winther, Ann, and Marie?and introduced many innovations into the medical practice of the region. Helen also found great satisfaction in the study of theology and service in a number of capacities in the ELCA administration. She founded the Northwest Regional Library Association in the area, as well as the Greenbush Municipal Library, and ensured its survival through the passage of a mill levy for its support?no mean feat in a poor agricultural region.
In 1967 Helen and Lloyd journeyed to Manambaro in Madagascar, off the coast of East Africa, with all five of their children, to work as medical missionaries for several months. After their return, Helen used her photographs and travel journals to create slide lectures that she and Lloyd delivered at churches and community halls across Minnesota, raising money for the medical missions of the Lutheran church.
Helen and Lloyd moved to another practice in southern Minnesota, in Cannon Falls, in 1975. There, Helen continued her service to community and church. She may have been most proud of two things: her successful campaign to build the Casavant organ for St Ansgar?s Lutheran Church, and her marshalling of community support for the new school bond issue, which passed by 35 votes after a doorknocking campaign that she orchestrated to speak to every household in the district.
During these years Helen also was instrumental in creating the Trollhavn subdivision in Cannon Falls. But probably her greatest satisfaction was derived from the closeness of her family and grandchildren, and finally, after Lloyd?s retirement, her ability to travel the world with him as they had always wanted. They took trips to Israel, Norway, China, and many other locales, often with their children and grandchildren in tow. Helen?s travel diaries were always thorough and interesting, and her curiosity about the world around her never flagged.
Her dear husband Lloyd died in 1992. This was a great blow, but Helen?s enthusiasm and curiosity returned. She began a popular cooking column in ?Today? magazine in Cannon Falls, which had many fans. Also, when her grandson Jake Reitan came out in 1999, and, in response to prejudice, started a campaign for equal rights for gays, she was one of his biggest supporters, marching in Gay Pride Parades and appearing in protests for Soulforce, a movement in which Jake was a key figure that advocated for churches? acceptance of gay people. Her photo has appeared in newspapers across the country documenting her support for equal rights for all of God?s children.
Eventually she found it necessary to leave her beloved house in Cannon Falls on the Cannon River, and move to an assisted living space in the Twin Cities to be nearer to her children and grandchildren, who were constant visitors. She is mourned by all of them: Karen Monson and her daughters Donna and Kjersti; Randi Reitan and her husband Philip and their children Ben, Josh, Britta, and Jake; Lloyd Winther; Ann Klefstad and her children Erik Kalstrom and Maja Kalstrom; and Marie Paterson and her husband Jeffrey and their children J. T. and Amy. She is also mourned by her sister Martha Clapp of Willoughby, Ohio, and by countless friends and admirers earned through her generous and welcoming ways.
Helen was born in Duluth in her parents? home in 1922, the much-adored youngest daughter of Marie and Olaf Melby. Her closest companions growing up were her older brother and sister, Arne and Martha; she remembered fondly their family time at the rustic lake cabin near Duluth where she helped in the garden and dreamed and read in the grove of white pines near the lake. When she was 13 years old the family moved to Cleveland. There she took the math prize in her high school and attended Flora Stone Mather College at Case University on a scholarship. She majored in nutrition and became a dietitian.
Meanwhile she had met a young medical student from Duluth, Lloyd Klefstad, who was attending medical school at Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Over several years of long walks and tin roof sundaes their relationship grew. In 1943 Lloyd graduated medical school and began an internship as a Navy doctor in Long Beach, California, prior to shipping out for the Philippines. Helen journeyed out to Long Beach by train, sitting up in a coach seat for 3 days, and married him.
After Lloyd?s return from the war, Helen and Lloyd eventually settled in Greenbush, Minnesota, where together they established a medical practice and general surgery, building a 40-bed hospital and nursing home, and working together for 27 years. They had 5 children in Greenbush?Karen, Randi, Lloyd Winther, Ann, and Marie?and introduced many innovations into the medical practice of the region. Helen also found great satisfaction in the study of theology and service in a number of capacities in the ELCA administration. She founded the Northwest Regional Library Association in the area, as well as the Greenbush Municipal Library, and ensured its survival through the passage of a mill levy for its support?no mean feat in a poor agricultural region.
In 1967 Helen and Lloyd journeyed to Manambaro in Madagascar, off the coast of East Africa, with all five of their children, to work as medical missionaries for several months. After their return, Helen used her photographs and travel journals to create slide lectures that she and Lloyd delivered at churches and community halls across Minnesota, raising money for the medical missions of the Lutheran church.
Helen and Lloyd moved to another practice in southern Minnesota, in Cannon Falls, in 1975. There, Helen continued her service to community and church. She may have been most proud of two things: her successful campaign to build the Casavant organ for St Ansgar?s Lutheran Church, and her marshalling of community support for the new school bond issue, which passed by 35 votes after a doorknocking campaign that she orchestrated to speak to every household in the district.
During these years Helen also was instrumental in creating the Trollhavn subdivision in Cannon Falls. But probably her greatest satisfaction was derived from the closeness of her family and grandchildren, and finally, after Lloyd?s retirement, her ability to travel the world with him as they had always wanted. They took trips to Israel, Norway, China, and many other locales, often with their children and grandchildren in tow. Helen?s travel diaries were always thorough and interesting, and her curiosity about the world around her never flagged.
Her dear husband Lloyd died in 1992. This was a great blow, but Helen?s enthusiasm and curiosity returned. She began a popular cooking column in ?Today? magazine in Cannon Falls, which had many fans. Also, when her grandson Jake Reitan came out in 1999, and, in response to prejudice, started a campaign for equal rights for gays, she was one of his biggest supporters, marching in Gay Pride Parades and appearing in protests for Soulforce, a movement in which Jake was a key figure that advocated for churches? acceptance of gay people. Her photo has appeared in newspapers across the country documenting her support for equal rights for all of God?s children.
Eventually she found it necessary to leave her beloved house in Cannon Falls on the Cannon River, and move to an assisted living space in the Twin Cities to be nearer to her children and grandchildren, who were constant visitors. She is mourned by all of them: Karen Monson and her daughters Donna and Kjersti; Randi Reitan and her husband Philip and their children Ben, Josh, Britta, and Jake; Lloyd Winther; Ann Klefstad and her children Erik Kalstrom and Maja Kalstrom; and Marie Paterson and her husband Jeffrey and their children J. T. and Amy. She is also mourned by her sister Martha Clapp of Willoughby, Ohio, and by countless friends and admirers earned through her generous and welcoming ways.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Helen Klefstad, please visit our flower store.