Margaret L. Lunda, 103, died Saturday, July 25, 2015, at Elmwood Care Centre in Onawa, IA.
Margaret Letetia (Vail) Lunda was born April 4, 1912, in Potter County, SD, the daughter of Albert and Nellie (Munyon) Vail. She grew up the youngest of five children.
On November 14, 1935, she married her dear husband Arthur E. Lunda, and they began their life together on the family farm in Lebanon, SD. There they had their four children: Ardyce, Maurice, Iris and Lloyd. The children were raised on the old family farm place, and Art and Margaret farmed there until selling in 1968. Margaret was a true farmer’s wife--she raised animals and vegetables, preserved her own food each year, and fed large threshing crews each fall. When Art became terribly sick and unable to work, she saved the farm almost single-handedly.
They sold the farm in 1968. That year, they moved to Enumclaw, WA, where their daughter Ardyce and her family were living. She lived there for many years, and it became her true home. In 1976, Art lost his battle with cancer. In the years since his death, Margaret made her home for many years with her daughter and son-in-law, Ardyce and Lloyd, also with son and daughter-in-law Lloyd and Tammy. Eventually, she moved to Arizona to live with her daughter and son-in-law, Iris and Bob, spending summers with son and daughter in law, Maurice and Harriet. In May 2011, she came to Elmwood Care Centre.
In 1939, Margaret and Art both were baptized as Jehovah’s Witnesses, and they took this very seriously. Margaret has served as a regular pioneer (full-time minister) for the last 32 years of her life. Over the decades, she has helped countless people on the road to life. In fact, soon after she moved to Elmwood, an individual she had discussed the Bible with drove from Washington State to visit her in Onawa.
Survivors include two daughters and one son-in-law: Ardyce Shaw and Iris and Bob Meisner; two sons and one daughter-in-law: Maurice Lunda and Lloyd and Tammy Lunda; 13 grandchildren; 15 great grandchildren; 4 great-great grandchildren; and a sister-in-law, Edna Vail.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Arthur E. Lunda; her parents; 2 sisters: Florence Lunda and Nellie Van Den Eykel; 2 brothers: Alex Vail and Orville Vail; daughter-in-law, Harriet Lunda; son-in-law, Lloyd Shaw; and an infant son and daughter.