Nellie Wahlstrom, age 85, of Canby, Minnesota passed away on Sunday, December 1, 2019 in Brentwood, CA. A Memorial Service will be at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 18, 2020 at the First Baptist Church in Canby, MN with Rev. Jeff Cooper officiating. Visitation will be Saturday one hour prior to the service. Burial will be at the Trinity Cemetery southwest of Canby.
Nellie Margaret (Bublitz) Wahlstrom was born on a farm in Deuel County near Altamont, SD on January 19, 1934. She was the 9th child and daughter of Richard and Nellie (Sedgwick) Bublitz. Her mother died when she was 10 days old from double pneumonia. Her Grandmother Lucy Sedgwick took her in and raised and cared for her until she died when Nellie was 10 years old. At that time her oldest sister, now married with a family of her own took Nellie in. She remained with Marion and Johnny Hanson until she came to the Canby area at the age of 18 to begin the next phase of her adult life as a “home nurse” for a Polio patient who lived on a farm near Canby. She worked there for two years and at that time met Paul Wahlstrom who also worked there from time to time. After four years of dating Paul, they were married at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church on July 26, 1957. To this union two sons were born. Stuart on August 26, 1962 and Stacey on September 16, 1964. Before having children, Nellie worked cleaning home and doing many odd jobs for folks needing help. After the children were born, Nellie remained at home and enjoyed caring for the kids. She helped out by taking in some odd jobs and helping Paul with his remodeling jobs around their home (which he did after hours, mainly during many years with the telephone company in Canby). She and Paul were active in Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church until 2011 when they left and joined the First Baptist Church. Over many years of Paul’s life, he fought with Parkinson’s Disease and Nellie was his “home nurse and helper”. He spent the last five months of his life in the nursing home in Canby and passed away there on May 24, 2015. Nellie remained in their home until her passing. Over the years as a homemaker Nellie enjoyed being part of a church family, gardening, canning, visiting, crocheting, knitting and the like. She was part of a volunteer group making Prayer Shawls and enjoyed making knit caps to be sent out at Christmas in the Shoebox Ministry started by Franklin Graham. She and Paul also enjoyed traveling and seeing many parts of the U.S.A. In 1978 they purchased a new Ford van and they and their children traveled in and through about 40 of the 50 states in the almost 30 years that they kept this van and used in it in their travels. They visited family and friends and marveled at the beauty God had created as they traveled.
Nellie is survived by Stuart (Luisa) Wahlstrom, Brentwood, CA and Stacey (Irmina) Wahlstrom of Minneapolis, MN; granddaughters: Erika Wahlstrom of Iowa City, IA and Krista Wahlstrom, who is attending the University of Iowa for her PhD in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience; and two sisters-in-law, Ruth Wahlstom and Karen Wahlstrom Backman. Nellie was preceded in death by her husband of 57 years; her parents; grandparents; brothers: Roy, Richard, Lyle, Harvey and Leo; sisters: Marion Hanson-Rabine, Dorothy Geardink and Helen Kieffer; brother-in-law, Glen Wahlstrom; along with many other relatives and friends.
