Gloria Anderson

Gloria Anderson, age 102, of Wheaton, Minnesota passed away Sunday, June 14, 2020 at the Traverse Care Center in Wheaton.

A public graveside service will be held at Wildwood Cemetery on Friday, June 19 at 11:00 a.m. at Wildwood Cemetery in Wheaton with Reverend Cheryl Berg officiating.

Gloria (Gro) Gronskei Anderson, the third of seven children, was born in Miland, Norway on June 2, 1918 to Olaf, a railroad worker and Anne Nesset Gronskei.  She was baptized in the Norwegian Lutheran church in Rjukan.

In 1927 Olaf decided to emigrate to Canada following his brother Knute and family.  Following a rough Atlantic Ocean crossing on the RMS Minnedosa plus traversing Canada from east to west by train, the family arrived in Shaunovan, Saskatchewan.  As it was the beginning of the depression, Olaf worked wherever he could to make ends meet.  After a house fire on a farm at which they worked, the family decided to move south to Wheaton where Anne had a sister, Gina Gilyard.  There, Olaf worked for several farmers in the White Rock and Wheaton areas, plus a stint in the WPA.  They eventually moved to a farm north of Wheaton and the children attended school there.

Gloria, as she came to be called, was confirmed in Wheaton’s Hope Lutheran Church by Rev. Narum and upon graduating from the eighth grade began working for farm women during harvest time.  Later, before the start of WWII, Gloria went to work in the dining room at Moorhead State Teachers College (MSUM).  Toward the end of the war, she met her first husband, Willard Garner, who was training to be a medic.  After the war, she followed him to California where their daughter Bonnie was born.

Gloria later married Leonard Anderson and they had a daughter, Anne Marie.  Gloria worked at the Wheaton Community Hospital for thirty years before retiring at the age of 77 in 1995.  She enjoyed her church, knitting, crocheting, and latch hook work.

She and Bonnie took a trip to Norway in 1993 to visit numerous relatives.  After that trip Gloria was visited in Wheaton several times by her beloved Norwegian cousins.

After moving to Countryside Inn in Rosholt, SD at age 90, she moved to Traverse Care Center in Wheaton at age 93.

Gloria was preceded in death by her parents; her husband Leonard; her sisters: Rosie, Delores and Hilda; and brothers: Knute, Ole and Einar. Gloria is survived by her daughter Bonnie (Harlan) Anderson; and her two children: Elizabeth Stanton and Greg Stanton; a great grandson Greg; and special grandchildren Ana and Kimber.  She is also survived by her daughter Anne Marie.  Gloria leaves quite a few loving nieces and nephews and several dear cousins in “the old country.”

Your kindness, patience and loving ways will be fondly remembered by all who knew you.