Beverly E. Nordeng, 80, died on Thursday, April 5, 2018, at the Adams Health Care Center.

If you are reading this letter, it is because my body has succumbed to breast cancer, a battle that started for me in the spring of 2012. Please know that cancer never took my spirit and it never defined me.

Allow me to share my life’s journey with you. I was born on Jan. 17, 1938, the only child of Ray and Ethel Olson. I was blessed to grow up on a dairy farm in the Red River Valley of the North near Fertile, Minnesota. The land served my mom after my dad’s passing at age 52 and has served me since my mom’s passing 10 years ago. If you are a reader who grew up on a farm or currently farm, you will understand that the farm instilled in me a strong work ethic. Upon graduation from Fertile High School, I left for Minneapolis to start my secretarial career, first at Nabisco and later at the DECCA recording studio. I met my future husband, LeRoy, when he stopped to assist me with a flat tire. It turned out that LeRoy and I had both grown up in Norman County. We were married on Aug. 25, 1962, and continued to work in the Twin Cities until relocating to Rochester for LeRoy’s job at IBM. I worked as a secretary at Crescent Electric. By this time we had our son, Rodney. In 1968, we built a home in rural Zumbrota, Minnesota. In 1979, we constructed our current home. LeRoy and I were not only excellent life partners, but also business partners. LeRoy was very hard working and in addition to his job at IBM, we always had a small business venture where I enjoyed working alongside him. In 1979, I was fortunate that a young family moved next door and their youngest child, Josie (Jackson) Banitt, soon became the little girl I never had. I was active in church, teaching Sunday school for many years and later serving as a church volunteer. I also enjoyed my decades of volunteering at the Zumbrota Health Care Center. Life became more joyous upon the births of my grandchildren, Brenna and Pierce. I was now experiencing what all grandparents know, and not a slight to my son, Rodney, or my daughter -in -law, Mary, but if I had known grandchildren were this wonderful, I would have started with grandchildren first! I so enjoyed their visits, overnights and every Christmas Eve at our home and all of the holidays on which LeRoy and I were invited to my in-laws, Roger and Ramona Draheim. Ramona has been the sister I never had. I am so proud of Brenna and Pierce with their successes in college and the adults they have become, still having so much desire to spend time with me. On Easter Day 2008, LeRoy died in our home after a lengthy illness, surrounded by all of us, including his mother and sisters. I continued to live in our home until last December, when I decided it was time to move into a skilled nursing facility. I had lived in my home longer than expected with support from Rod and Mary. I am ending this letter as I started, by stating cancer did not define my life journey. Whatever time I had left was going to be spent in the same manner that I had lived it, and as of this writing, I did it much longer than expected by anyone other than my family and I. Peace and Blessings – Beverly Nordeng.

The funeral service will be at 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 14, 2018, at United Redeemer Lutheran Church, 360 West Third St, Zumbrota, MN. Visitation will be for a half hour prior to the service at the church. Interment will be at a later date in Fort Snelling National Cemetery.