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Palma Mildred Quanrude Quandahl, age 96, of Andover, MN died July 30, 2015. Funeral services were held at Faith Lutheran Church in Coon Rapids, MN Monday, August 3. Interment was at Resthaven Cemetery in West Des Moines Wednesday, August 5.
Palma was born in Allamakee County July 19, 1919 to Agnes and Henry Quanrude. She was baptized, confirmed and married in the Big Canoe Lutheran Church, rural Decorah. Palma graduated from Waukon High School and Waukon Junior College, and took classes at Luther College in Decorah. She taught rural school in Allamakee and Winneshiek Counties for five years, after which she worked as a secretary in the Social Welfare Office in Waukon. She also served as secretary to State Senator Arthur Jacobson in Des Moines.
Palma was married to Nels J. Quandahl March 24, 1946. She helped Nels in his bookkeeping and tax office in Waukon for several years. Palma and Nels were active members of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Waukon, where she taught Sunday school and was active in the Ladies’ Aid.
In 1966, the family moved to Eau Claire, WI, where they lived for four years. They then moved to Des Moines. After Nels’ death January 24, 1972, she was employed as a transcriptionist for Preferred Risk Life Insurance Company, retiring in 1985. She then moved to West Des Moines, where she lived for 20 years. January 1, 2006, she moved to Andover, MN.
Preceding her in death were her parents; one brother, Harold; one sister, Vivian; her husband, Nels; and longtime companion, Lester Gabrielson.
Surviving are one sister, Hazel Kolsrud; two daughters, Joyce Jenson and her husband, Kenneth, and Ellen Quandahl and her husband, Larry Wheeler; two granddaughters, Naomi (Ryan Christenson) and Julia Jenson; one great-grandson, Miles Christenson; one step-grandson, Allen (Suzanne) Wheeler; and three step-great-granddaughters, Annaliv, Hailey and Jesse Wheeler. Also surviving are three sisters-in-law, Lorna Brasley Ruth Quandahl, Ursula Quanrude and Ella Henderson.
Palma was an active member of Windsor Heights Lutheran Church in Des Moines for 34 years, and then of Faith Lutheran Church in Coon Rapids, MN. She was a member of Sons of Norway, Iowa Lutheran Hospital Auxiliary, Luther Park Auxiliary and PEO chapter IZ-IA. She published a photographic history of her childhood called "The Way it Was." She loved golf, bridge, poetry, ballroom dancing, and watching the Minnesota Twins.