KNUTSON, Fern O. (Hollingshead) (1906 - 1998)

KNUTSON, HOLLINGSHEAD, MCGRATH, BRUNING, SAXEN, MINARD

Posted By: County Coordinator (email)
Date: 2/1/2025 at 07:18:38

Fern O. Knutson, 92, of Cherokee, Iowa and former Quimby, Iowa resident, passed away Saturday, August 1, 1998, in the Cherokee Villa Nursing & Rehab Center following a lengthy illness.

Funeral services will be held Wednesday, August 5 from the Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Quimby, Iowa. Graveside services and burial will be at the Evergreen Cemetery at Jewell, Iowa.

Mrs. Knutson was born June 1, 1906, at Quimby to William and Sara (McGrath) Hollingshead. She married Albert Bruning on December 26, 1923, at Quimby. He passed away on July 10, 1940. She married Herman Knutson on Mary 21, 1944, at Camp Chafee, Fort Smith, Arkansas. He passed away October 10, 1973. She had worked in a café, grocery store and sewing room in Cherokee. She had worked in a defense plant during World War II in Des Moines, Iowa. She had resided in the Cherokee Villa Nursing & Rehab Center since December of 1993. She had resided in Cherokee since 1988, prior to this in Quimby and Jewell, Iowa. She enjoyed traveling with her husband when he was following the construction trade. She was a member of the Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Quimby and the American Legion Auxiliary in Jewell, Iowa.

Survivors include a son, Robert Bruning and his wife Elda, Palatine, Illinois; two daughters: Dorothy and her husband, Clarence Saxen, Quimby; and Geraldine “Jeri” Minard, Jewell; nine grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and a great-great-grandson.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husbands; a son, Donald, in infancy; seven brothers; two sisters; and a son-in-law, John F. Minard. (Source: Former Cherokee County Historical Society scrapbook clipping dated 8-4-1998)