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Betty Cordes

Betty Cordes

BEMIDJI – A funeral service for Betty Cordes, 89, of Bemidji, Minn., formerly of Granada, Minn., will be held 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 8, 2015, at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Fairmont. Burial will follow in Lakeside Cemetery, Fairmont.

Betty passed away Tuesday morning, March 31, 2015, at the Bemidji Hospital with loved ones at her side. Visitation will be from 4-7 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, at the Lakeview Funeral Home in Fairmont and will continue one hour prior to the service Wednesday at the church.

Betty was born Jan. 8, 1926, in Le Mars, Iowa, to Arthur and Lillian (Kolander) Nelson. She was baptized in Le Mars on May 23, 1926. The family lived in several locations while she was growing up. Most of them were in Minnesota. During World War II, Betty moved with her family to Portland, Ore., where she worked in the shipyards delivering mail on a scooter. Betty Jane Nelson and Howard G. Cordes were married on Sept. 10, 1945, at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Blue Earth, Minn. In 1947, they purchased a farm near Granada, Minn. where they lived and farmed for 58 years. For 28 of those years, she also worked in a factory in Fairmont, Minn. that packaged frozen foods. She and Howard contributed many hours of service as members of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Fairmont. Betty loved to garden and to preserve what she raised by canning or freezing. She was a great cook and is remembered by her children and grandchildren for the great feasts that she prepared for all the holidays. Her hobbies included knitting, crocheting and ceramics. She enjoyed reading and spending as much time as she could watching her grandchildren and great-grandchildren grow up. Betty and Howard moved to Bemidji, Minn. in 2005 because of health issues. There, they continued their worship at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bemijdi.

She is survived by children, Margaret (Earl) McNea of Bemidji, Minn., Sharon Edinger of Burnsville, Minn., and Susan (Dennis Scheppmann) of Chanhassen, Minn.; seven grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; and a host of nieces and nephews.

Betty was preceded in death by her husband, Howard; her parents; her brother, DeWain (Elaine) Nelson of Albert Lea, Minn.; and two great-grandsons, Samuel Morrell and Andre Lareau.

www.lakeviewfuneralhome.net