Muriel Dinsmore

Muriel Dinsmore, 90, a resident of Fergus Falls, died Tuesday, August 13, 2013, at PioneerCare in Fergus Falls, Minnesota.

Muriel Jane Greenfield Dinsmore was born November 1, 1922 to Heye and Della (Swan) Greenfield in Balaton, Minnesota. She was baptized January 28, 1923 at Sillerud Lutheran Church near Balaton, MN. by Reverend G.W. Sanstead. She was confirmed at Trinity Lutheran Church, Balaton, by Reverend N.J.W. Nelson on July 18, 1937.

Muriel graduated Balaton High School in May, 1940. She attended Bethesda Hospital School of Nursing, St. Paul, MN from September 1941 to May 1944, receiving her R.N. degree.

She worked at Union Hospital in New Ulm, Minnesota and Tyler Hospital in Tyler, Minnesota before joining the United States Navy Corp in 1944. She served in the Philadelphia Naval Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from May through December, 1945. While there, she met Dean Dinsmore who had just returned from a three year South Pacific tour of duty with the United States Marine Corp, 3rd Division. They were married on November 24, 1945 at the Arch Street Methodist Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by Navy Chaplain Merritt Webb.

Following discharge from military duty, they lived in St. Paul, Minnesota for six years and Montevideo, Minnesota for three years before moving to Fergus Falls, Minnesota in the fall, 1954.

Muriel was active in Augustana Lutheran Church in Fergus Falls as well as Lutheran churches in other communities where she had lived. She was also active in other service areas as well, including Cub Scouts and Campfire Girls, local county family welfare board, and teaching Red Cross Home Nursing classes. She was a member of the Minnesota Nurses Association and the American Nursing Association and had served as a past president of the local Nurses Study Club. She and others were instrumental in developing the Children’s Corner Child Care Center which continues to operate in Fergus Falls. She had previously served as the Service Chairperson for the West Otter Tail American Cancer Association Board. Together with her husband, she worked on the Elder Options Board for the blind and visually handicapped. Muriel was also a long-standing member and friend to a group of fellow Augustana Church women who formed a “birthday club”.

Together with her husband, Dean, they raised three children: Steven (Pat) Dinsmore, Starbuck, Minnesota; Joan (Steve) Martin, Blaine, Minnesota; and John (Judy) Dinsmore, Fergus Falls, Minnesota. She was the proud grandmother of Lara Dinsmore Amundson (Kurt) of Starbuck, MN; Julie Dinsmore Abraham (Jay) of Long Prairie, MN; Michael Dinsmore, Starbuck. MN; Tony Martin (Ann), Blaine, MN; Tyler Martin (Heather), St. Paul, MN: Sam Dinsmore, Fargo, ND; and Joe Dinsmore (Kristi), Fargo, ND. She was also “GG” or Great Grandmother to 13 great-grandchildren: Andrew, Jacob, Justin and Ryan Amundson; Adam, Jacob, Luke and Sarah Martin; Jenna, Nicholas, Gabriel and Halle Abraham; and Carter Dinsmore.

Muriel was preceded in death by her husband, Dean (1992); her parents, Heye (1944) and Della (1964); brother-in-law, Harold Dinsmore (1999) and sister-in-law, Maybelle Dinsmore (2013); and many uncles, aunts and cousins.

Memorials: To be given to Augustana WELCA (Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)

Visitation: One hour prior to the service at the church.
Service: 11 a.m. Saturday, August 17, 2013 at Augustana Lutheran Church, 308 East Douglas Avenue, Fergus Falls, MN (for directions, see: http://augustanalutheran.org/map.php )
Clergy: Reverend Steven Wold
Burial: Knollwood Memorial Gardens, 19123 Pebble Lake Road, Fergus Falls, MN
Military Participation by the Fergus Falls VFW and American Legion
Funeral Home: Olson Funeral Home, Fergus Falls, MN