Obituary

Stella Roberts

April 21, 2012

The Daily News

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IRON MOUNTAIN - Stella H. Roberts, 96, of 417 E. Stanton St. in Iron Mountain, died on Tuesday, April 17, 2012, at her home.

Stella was born on Dec. 5, 1915, in Iron Mountain, daughter of the late Carl and Hilda (Nordlund) Carlson. She also resided in Breitung Township, Waukesha, Green Bay and Little Suamico.

Stella worked for several years as an inspector for the Perfex Corporation in Kingsford. She was a department manager at Montgomery Ward & Co. for 16 years, retiring in 1971.

Her life was devoted to her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She enjoyed knitting, crocheting and sewing for her family. She also enjoyed stamp collecting and was a member of the philatelic club.

Stella was the longest standing member of the First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Iron Mountain, both in age and tenure. She was a 1933 graduate of Kingsford High School.

Of Swedish decent, she enjoyed researching her family genealogy, tracing her ancestry back to the 1700s in Oland, an island in the Baltic Sea. Her ancestors were farmers and emigrated to America via England.

Stella married Elmer Roberts on Feb. 19, 1972, in Iron Mountain. They were married 32 years before he preceded her in death on July 12, 2008.

Stella is survived by her sons, Paul (Mary) Olson of Florida and Gary (Evelyn) Olson of Iron Mountain; her daughters, Gail (Ralph) Valine of Florence Wis. and Diane (Bob) Ivey of Clarksville, Tenn.; 11 grandchildren; 20 great-grandchildren; nine great-great grandchildren; one great-great-great grandchild; and many nieces and nephews.

In addition to her husband, she was also preceded in death by her son Dale; two infant daughters; five brothers, C. Helmer, Gerhard, Robert, Roy, Oliver and Albin Carlson; five sisters, Hilder Weber, Linnea Erickson, Elve DeLano, Edythe Schinderle, and Agnes Bundy. She was the last survivor of her generation.

Memorial services will be held in May.

Burial will be in Iron Mountain Cemetery Park.

Condolences to the family of Stella Roberts may be expressed online at ernashfuneralhomes.com.

The family has entrusted the Erickson-Rochon & Nash Funeral Home of Iron Mountain with the funeral arrangements.

This little article does not even begin to describe who my grandma really was.  Realistically, what five or ten paragraph summary can sum up all that a person has meant to those that love him/her.  


First, there are a couple mistakes that the teacher in me cannot overlook.  My grandparents were married for 36 years, not 32 (Feb. 1972 to July 2008 is 36 years last time I counted).  And it says she was preceded in death by five brothers but lists six names.  Not sure why.  She was the youngest of twelve kids.


Some important things about my grandma not listed in the obituary are:
- she was highly intelligent.  So intelligent, in fact, that she was allowed to completely skip the third grade.  Even though she was the youngest in her graduating class, she was still the valedictorian.


- she had a love for History.  She would spend hours researching presidents and collecting copies of documents that were important to our country.  She clipped newspaper and magazine articles or tediously hand wrote information to organize into notebooks or binders.  I loved talking politics with her because she was so smart and informed.  I was even able to overlook the fact that she was a raging democrat!!!! 

- on our weekend visits up there we were treated like royalty.  Not only would she insist on taking us out for dinner, she would also insist on making us a huge breakfast with eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, cereal, milk, juice, and coffee!  Then, as we would hug them goodbye, either she or my grandpa would try and slip us some money "for gas or food on the way home."  Because we would always refuse to take it, they became pretty good at hiding it in places we wouldn't find until much later.


- finally, she was able to live at home until her final moment because she had the most AMAZING home caregiver - Denese.  I am sad that she was not mentioned in the obituary because words cannot express how grateful we are for all that she has done for the past 4 years.  She went far beyond what she was required to do by her job.  She not only cared for my grandma but she cared about my grandma. And those are two hugely different things. 

Grandma...I miss you.  But know you are joyfully in the presence of our Heavenly Father.