Elsie Carlson

Elsie Carlson went Home to the Lord on Wednesday, February 5, 2020 at the Clarkfield Care Center at the age of 89.

Funeral services will be held Monday, February 10, 2020 at 11:00 AM at the Refuge Church in Montevideo.  Pastor Bruce Jarman will officiate and interment will be at Terrace Lawn Memory Gardens. 

Visitation will be held on Sunday from 3-5:00 PM at Lynner Funeral Home in Clarkfield with a time for memories at 4:30 PM.  There will also be visitation at the church for one hour before the funeral.

Elsie Faye Carlson was born to Henry and Faye (Beightol) Appelseth on January 19, 1931, the third of five children. She grew up in Clarkfield, but due to a handicap resulting from polio, she spent many of her childhood summers at Gillette Hospital in the Twin Cities. She graduated from Clarkfield in 1949 and then went on to attend business college in the Twin Cities. After completing business college, she returned to her hometown where she took a job working for Farmers & Merchant State Bank.

She married Stanley Carlson on October 10, 1959. Over the next 41 years they owned and operated a farm in Boyd and then later on the outskirts of Clarkfield. Elsie's antics made hanging out at the farm a favorite pastime for all their nieces & nephews. Sometimes they had chores to do while they were there, but somehow she even made that fun. Elsie & Stanley could be found almost daily at the Trailways Café in Monte, and usually had a couple of those nieces & nephews in tow. They retired in 2001 and moved to an apartment in town.  Sadly, after 46 years of marriage, Stanley passed away on January 8, 2006.

Elsie's family was an integral part of the founders of Community Bible Church (now the Refuge) in Montevideo, and was still a part of their membership until her passing. Elsie was very active for the Church, especially in the community, where she shared her musical talents playing the piano for nursing homes, Bible school programs, for visiting pastors at community centers, and even at the care center up until just a couple of weeks ago.

Elsie shared her love for Jesus with everyone, everywhere. Her life was so full of His joy that it just spilled out everywhere she went. She taught Sunday School, volunteered at Vacation Bible School, and shared the Word unashamedly. She took the kids to church, taught them the Bible and used it often to teach them life lessons. As they grew into those rebellious teenage years, she would tell them the story of Jonah, often substituting their name for Jonah's to explain to them the trouble their rebellion could get them into. Some of them heard the story often. Her extended family of nieces and nephews were very important to her life, and they all knew it. She never realized how important and what a hero she was to them.

After Trailways closed, Elsie enjoyed spending time with friends at the Clarkfield Café, Valentino's in Monte & Tillies in Granite Falls. She was a Pizza Ranch fan as well. 

She was always on the go and attended every community activity she could get to. She knew everyone in town and everyone knew her.

She loved to talk on the phone, her apartment door was always open (literally) and everyone was always welcome. Unless it was time for Wheel of Fortune. You were not allowed to call her then.

There is so much about this lady that could be shared, so many memories, so much laughter, so much wisdom. We, her nieces and nephews, hope we can carry on her legacy in manner in which she would be proud.

Elsie is survived by her sister, JoAnne Weathers, nieces & nephews: Linda (Bruce) Laughton, Jim Stone, Robert Goedert, Joy (Lonnie) Bork, Kathy (Terry) Dornbusch, Ralph Appelseth, Deana (Marty Schuetz) Long, Charles Appelseth, Amy (John) Goins, and many great nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Henry & Faye; husband, Stanley; sisters, Verna (Ronald) Stone and Inez (Howard) Carlson; brother, Ralph (Joyce) Appelseth; brother-in-law, Al Weathers; niece, Judy Goedert and nephew, Steve Carlson.

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