Jeanette Martinson

Jeanette Martinson, age 85, of Decorah, IA, died Tuesday, March 15, 2011, at the Good Samaritan Nursing Home in Waukon, IA. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, March 23, 2011, at the Decorah Lutheran Church, with Rev. Wayne Hagen, Rev. Bryan Robertson and Rev. Dave Berg presiding. A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, March 25, 2011 at the Sarpsborg Cemetery, rural Dalton, Minnesota, with Reverend Mark Johnson officiating. Olson Funeral Home in Fergus Falls is in charge of local arrangements. Friends may call after 9:00 a.m., on Wednesday, March 23, 2011, at the Decorah Lutheran Church. The Schluter – Balik Funeral Home in Decorah, IA, is in charge of arrangements. Jeanette was a long-time Decorah resident whose joy in life and humanity was known by many in the community. Jeanette Solvei Jacobson Martinson was born to Andreas and Dagmar (Kvalheim) Jacobson in Racine, Wisconsin on January 9, 1926. She attended Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota, graduating in 1949. While attending Augsburg she met and married the Rev. Emil Caroll Martinson on August 28, 1948. Jeanette shared a ministry with Emil Martinson at six Lutheran parishes in South Dakota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and three locations in Iowa, including Big Canoe and Highland Lutheran churches in rural Decorah, St. Paul’s Lutheran in Irwin, and Beaver Creek and Faith Lutheran near Forest City. Following retirement in 1987, Jeanette and Emil lived and worked at Holden Village, a church retreat center in the Cascade Mountains of Washington state, for a year before returning to Decorah in 1988. She has been a resident of Good Samaritan Society Center in Waukon since 2005. Jeanette had an abiding interest in her five children and her grandchildren, textile arts and handicrafts. She was known for her knitting and embroidery skills, teaching many classes at Vesterheim - Decorah’s Norwegian-American Museum, demonstrating at Nordic Fest, and knitting Norwegian sweaters for her children, grandchildren and many area people. She owned and operated Jeanette’s Yarn Hus in Forest City in the 1980s. Jeanette’s love of music began as a child, singing harmony in church and with her nine sisters and brothers and continued singing even after she lost her ability to speak. As a pastor’s wife, she directed both children’s and adult choirs at every parish where she and her husband Emil served. Jeanette was called upon to sing for many weddings and funerals of family, parishioners and friends. She instilled a love of music early in her children and together with Emil and her five children, formed the Martinson Family Singers, performing in area churches and throughout the Midwest. With just their youngest daughter at home, the Martinsons joined together with Rev. David and Bev Berg’s family to sing together as “His Gang”. Jeanette was a founding member of Northern Lights Women’s Chorus in Decorah. Jeanette’s survivors include three daughters: Patsy Martinson of Decorah, IA; Sonja Juffer and husband Kirk of Shorewood, WI; Lisa Martinson and husband Grant Nelson of Appleton, WI; one son, Timothy Martinson and wife Joanna Lynch of Ithaca, NY; and daughter-in-law Kate Ruane Martinson, Decorah, IA. Seven grandchildren: James and Robin Martinson, Gustaf (Trish) Juffer, Gudrun and Helen Juffer, Emily Nelson, and Wren Martinson. One brother, Eugene and wife Jean Jacobson, Racine, WI; one sister, Marion Schumacher of Racine, WI; and two sisters-in-law, Helen Irene Martinson of Ashby, MN, and Helen Harriet Martinson of Fergus Falls, MN. Jeanette was preceded in death by her husband Rev. Emil Martinson on January 12, 2005; one son Stephen Martinson on January 11, 2001; her parents Andreas and Dagmar (Kvalheim) Jacobson; sisters Martha Kvenvik, Sophie Skrudland, Kay Aul, Agnes Knudsen, Helen Knudsen, Dagmar Jensen, and brother Herbert Jacobson.